Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXII 7-8 Oct 2021
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Thrace, Ainos AR Tetradrachm. Circa 455/4-453/2 BC. Head of Hermes to right, wearing petasos / Goat standing to right; AINI above, herm facing to right and small kerykeion, both on garlanded throne, in right field; all within incuse square. May, Ainos 70 (A44/P56); AMNG II 259; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC 3 (same dies); Jameson 1047 (same); Weber 2303 (same obv. die); HGC 3.2, 1266. 16.26g, 26mm, 3h.
Extremely Fine; beautiful iridescent cabinet tone.
Ex Thrax Collection, Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XVII, 28 March 2019, lot 403;
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XVI, 8 January 2013, lot 252 (hammer: $11,000).
The city of Ainos began striking its first tetradrachms only after the expulsion of the Persians from northern Greece following Xerxes' defeat at Salamis. Its early issue of coinage came to an end with the Athenian coinage decree of 449 BC, but the mint began to strike again around 435 BC, finally ending when Philip of Macedon conquered the city in 342 BC. The coinage of Ainos consistently displayed Hermes on one side and a goat on the other, the reasons for which are that the goat represented the source of Ainos' prosperity, and Hermes was the patron god of the city.
According to a poem by Kallimachos, the sculptor Epeios, who constructed the Trojan Horse, also made a wooden statue (xoanon) of Hermes, which was washed out to sea and later recovered by fishermen on the Hebros river. The fishermen, thinking it just a piece of driftwood, tried to burn it in their bonfire. When it failed to burn they took fright and threw it back into the sea, which promptly cast it back again. The natives accepted it as a relic of the gods, and erected the sanctuary of Hermes Perpheraios (the Wanderer) at the future site of Ainos.
Engraved in beautiful early classical style, this obverse die was used for one of the final issues struck in May's Period I, after which the Athenian coinage decree led to an interruption in the issue of tetradrachms that lasted until 435/4 when Ainos was granted a special dispensation to resume tetradrachm issues.
Extremely Fine; beautiful iridescent cabinet tone.
Ex Thrax Collection, Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XVII, 28 March 2019, lot 403;
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XVI, 8 January 2013, lot 252 (hammer: $11,000).
The city of Ainos began striking its first tetradrachms only after the expulsion of the Persians from northern Greece following Xerxes' defeat at Salamis. Its early issue of coinage came to an end with the Athenian coinage decree of 449 BC, but the mint began to strike again around 435 BC, finally ending when Philip of Macedon conquered the city in 342 BC. The coinage of Ainos consistently displayed Hermes on one side and a goat on the other, the reasons for which are that the goat represented the source of Ainos' prosperity, and Hermes was the patron god of the city.
According to a poem by Kallimachos, the sculptor Epeios, who constructed the Trojan Horse, also made a wooden statue (xoanon) of Hermes, which was washed out to sea and later recovered by fishermen on the Hebros river. The fishermen, thinking it just a piece of driftwood, tried to burn it in their bonfire. When it failed to burn they took fright and threw it back into the sea, which promptly cast it back again. The natives accepted it as a relic of the gods, and erected the sanctuary of Hermes Perpheraios (the Wanderer) at the future site of Ainos.
Engraved in beautiful early classical style, this obverse die was used for one of the final issues struck in May's Period I, after which the Athenian coinage decree led to an interruption in the issue of tetradrachms that lasted until 435/4 when Ainos was granted a special dispensation to resume tetradrachm issues.