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Triton XXIII 14-15 Jan 2020
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THRACO-MACEDONIAN REGION, Uncertain (Ennea-Hodoi?). Late 6th-early 5th centuries BC. EL Stater (20mm, 13.94 g). Lydo-Milesian standard. Cow kneeling right, head reverted, suckling calf, standing left below; floral symbol above, laurel branch(?) to right / Incuse rectangle, divided into eight(?) compartments. Konuk & Lorber 46 = Triton VI, lot 201 (same obv. die); SNG München 7 = Kraay-Hirmer 589 = Traité I 77, pl. III, 1 (Ionia; same obv. die). VF. The third, and finest, known of this remarkable issue.
From the Jonathan P. Rosen Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 92 (23 May 2016), lot 198.
The long discredited theory of J. Svoronos, proposed in L'hellenisme primitif de la Macédonie, pp. 187–97, and pl. 16, that there were substantial issues of electrum from mints in the Thraco-Macedonian region, was finally vindicated by M.J. Price in Coin Hoards II (1976), p. 7, who described a hoard found in northern Thrace. The argument for the reattribution of this and similar electrum issues (cf. Traité I, 71, 76-77, PCG pl. 1, 13, and Leu 13, 1975, 221 [Ionia]), previously ascribed to the Ionian region, to uncertain mints of Macedon and Thrace is very convincing. Find evidence and the coins' rectangular incuses suggest they were issued by Greek cities along the northern Aegean coast that were sympathetic to the cause of the Ionian Revolt of 499-494. The floral symbols of the crouching bull (cf. Rosen 148–9 [from Price's Thracian hoard] and SNG ANS 929–34 [Derrones]) are Thraco-Macedonian in character, and similar to the acanthus motif of the mint of Akanthos (SNG ANS 16–23). Similar silver staters and drachms with the cow suckling calf/incuse theme are well known from this region (SNG ANS 923–5 [The Bottiaei], and Rosen 158–9 [uncertain]), but perhaps most convincing for an attribution to Enna-Hodoi are a series that are inscribed EN, which E.S.G. Robinson interpreted as the ethnic of that city, which later became Amphipolis (see ACGC p. 151, n. 4, and SNG Ashmolean 2264 = ACGC 560 [Ennea-Hodoi(?)]).
From the Jonathan P. Rosen Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 92 (23 May 2016), lot 198.
The long discredited theory of J. Svoronos, proposed in L'hellenisme primitif de la Macédonie, pp. 187–97, and pl. 16, that there were substantial issues of electrum from mints in the Thraco-Macedonian region, was finally vindicated by M.J. Price in Coin Hoards II (1976), p. 7, who described a hoard found in northern Thrace. The argument for the reattribution of this and similar electrum issues (cf. Traité I, 71, 76-77, PCG pl. 1, 13, and Leu 13, 1975, 221 [Ionia]), previously ascribed to the Ionian region, to uncertain mints of Macedon and Thrace is very convincing. Find evidence and the coins' rectangular incuses suggest they were issued by Greek cities along the northern Aegean coast that were sympathetic to the cause of the Ionian Revolt of 499-494. The floral symbols of the crouching bull (cf. Rosen 148–9 [from Price's Thracian hoard] and SNG ANS 929–34 [Derrones]) are Thraco-Macedonian in character, and similar to the acanthus motif of the mint of Akanthos (SNG ANS 16–23). Similar silver staters and drachms with the cow suckling calf/incuse theme are well known from this region (SNG ANS 923–5 [The Bottiaei], and Rosen 158–9 [uncertain]), but perhaps most convincing for an attribution to Enna-Hodoi are a series that are inscribed EN, which E.S.G. Robinson interpreted as the ethnic of that city, which later became Amphipolis (see ACGC p. 151, n. 4, and SNG Ashmolean 2264 = ACGC 560 [Ennea-Hodoi(?)]).