Nomos AG
Auction 26 21 May 2023
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MACEDON. Aige in Pallene. 500-480 BC. Hemidrachm (Silver, 10 mm, 1.60 g). Forepart of a goat to left, with horn, long beard and his head turned back to right. Rev. Irregular incuse square. Apparently unpublished, but see Bank Leu 33, 1983, 278 (this coin, ascribed to "Aigai?"). Pleasing, attractive, well-struck and toned. Extremely fine.
From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, ex Bank Leu 33, 3 May 1983, 278 and Hess-Leu [11], 24 March 1959, 143.
There is a big problem with anepigraphic ancient Greek silver coins of the late 6th and 5th centuries BC, which bear goats as their primary type. Not only are there quite a number of coin-issuing cities that have the name Goat Town (Aigai and its variants: among other places they are in central Macedonia, on the Chalkidike, in Achaea, in Aeolis, in Cilicia, et al.), but other places and peoples used the goat as a coin type as well. Thus, coins that were confidently ascribed to a specific Aigai beginning in the late 19th century, have now been placed elsewhere. The bulk of types from Northern Greece are now assigned to tribal groups (the Mygdones and Krestones for example), but others, as those here, have been reattributed thanks to the evidence of findspots. Thus, the city of Aige in the Chalkidike has recently been assigned a number of coins that were previously considered to either be of uncertain origin or were located elsewhere; this is thanks solely to the clear evidence of recorded provenience.
From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, ex Bank Leu 33, 3 May 1983, 278 and Hess-Leu [11], 24 March 1959, 143.
There is a big problem with anepigraphic ancient Greek silver coins of the late 6th and 5th centuries BC, which bear goats as their primary type. Not only are there quite a number of coin-issuing cities that have the name Goat Town (Aigai and its variants: among other places they are in central Macedonia, on the Chalkidike, in Achaea, in Aeolis, in Cilicia, et al.), but other places and peoples used the goat as a coin type as well. Thus, coins that were confidently ascribed to a specific Aigai beginning in the late 19th century, have now been placed elsewhere. The bulk of types from Northern Greece are now assigned to tribal groups (the Mygdones and Krestones for example), but others, as those here, have been reattributed thanks to the evidence of findspots. Thus, the city of Aige in the Chalkidike has recently been assigned a number of coins that were previously considered to either be of uncertain origin or were located elsewhere; this is thanks solely to the clear evidence of recorded provenience.