Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 96 14-15 February 2017
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Thrace, Ainos. Silver Tetradrachm (16.22 g), ca. 466/5-465/4 BC. Head of Hermes right, wearing petasos. Reverse: AINI, goat standing right; in lower right field, boar's head; all within incuse square. May 18a; BMFA 772. Very Rare. Boldly struck and well centered with a uniform antique light greyish tone. Some faint scratches on the cheek. Extremely Fine. Estimate Value $5,000 - UP
The Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from F. Kovacs in 1991. Ex Sotheby's (19 June 1991), 171, Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection, pt. IV (19-20 June 1991), 171; Ex NFA VIII (6 June 1980), 68; Ex Boston Museum of Fine Arts Collection (acc. no. 00.182 = purchased in 1900 with funds from the Catherine Page Perkins Fund).
The obverse of this coin depicts Hermes, who was worshiped at Ainos in his peculiar local aspect as Perpheraios ("the Wanderer"). The Hellenistic poet, Kallimachos, tells the story of how Epeios, the creator of the Trojan Horse, constructed a wooden cult statue (xoanon in Greek) of Hermes that was washed out to sea. It remained adrift in the Aegean Sea until it was caught in the nets of fishermen near the mouth of the Hebros River in Thrace. Mistaking the statue for mere driftwood, the fishermen tried to use it for firewood, but it would not burn under any circumstances. Fearful of the miraculous wood, the fisherman threw the statue back into the sea only to have it promptly returned to shore by the waves. The native Thracians of the area recognized the statue as a divine relic and subsequently built a shrine to house it on the site that later became the Aiolian Greek colony of Ainos. The Archaic wooden image of Hermes was still worshipped in his temple at Ainos and was sometimes depicted on coins of the Hellenistic period, but here the god is shown in the idealized anthropomorphic form more familiar to the wider Greek world. Lest there be any doubt about the god depicted, Hermes' sacred animal, the goat, also appears on the reverse.
The Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from F. Kovacs in 1991. Ex Sotheby's (19 June 1991), 171, Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection, pt. IV (19-20 June 1991), 171; Ex NFA VIII (6 June 1980), 68; Ex Boston Museum of Fine Arts Collection (acc. no. 00.182 = purchased in 1900 with funds from the Catherine Page Perkins Fund).
The obverse of this coin depicts Hermes, who was worshiped at Ainos in his peculiar local aspect as Perpheraios ("the Wanderer"). The Hellenistic poet, Kallimachos, tells the story of how Epeios, the creator of the Trojan Horse, constructed a wooden cult statue (xoanon in Greek) of Hermes that was washed out to sea. It remained adrift in the Aegean Sea until it was caught in the nets of fishermen near the mouth of the Hebros River in Thrace. Mistaking the statue for mere driftwood, the fishermen tried to use it for firewood, but it would not burn under any circumstances. Fearful of the miraculous wood, the fisherman threw the statue back into the sea only to have it promptly returned to shore by the waves. The native Thracians of the area recognized the statue as a divine relic and subsequently built a shrine to house it on the site that later became the Aiolian Greek colony of Ainos. The Archaic wooden image of Hermes was still worshipped in his temple at Ainos and was sometimes depicted on coins of the Hellenistic period, but here the god is shown in the idealized anthropomorphic form more familiar to the wider Greek world. Lest there be any doubt about the god depicted, Hermes' sacred animal, the goat, also appears on the reverse.