Watch List notes:

JDL Collection Part II: Geek Coins
NORTHERN GREECE. THRAKO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES.

THE ORRESCII, 500–480. Tristater,

Thraco-Macedonian standard, AG 27.87 g.
Obv. ΟΡΡΗ−Σ (reversed)−Κ−ΙΟΗ Hermes, naked and bearded, wearing Causia, walking between two bulls right on ground line, holding two spears in right hand and exten- ding left hand to neck of nearest bull; border of dots.
Rev. Quadripartite incuse square.
Literature
Traité II/1, 1461, pl. XLV, 9
BMC Macedonia 146, 2
SNG ANS 977
O. Picard, Les Grecs devant la menace perse, Paris, 1995, p. 173, fig. 12e
M. J. Price, Coins of the Macedonians, London, 1974, pl. III, 13 (this obverse die)
J. N. Svoronos, "L'Hellénisme primitif de la Macédoine prou- vé par la numismatique et l'or du Pangée", JIAN 19, 1919, pl. V, 2–3 (this obverse die)
Kraay-Hirmer pl. 123, 376 (this obverse die)
M.-M. Bendenoun, Coins of the Ancient World, A portrait of the JDL Collection, Tradart, Genève, 2009, 12 (this coin)
Condition
Very rare. A very appealing respresentation struck on a very broad flan. Pleasant old cabinet tone, minor metal flaws on reverse, otherwise about extremely fine.

Provenance
The Numismatic Auction Ltd III, New York 1985, lot 48.
The Thraco-Macedonian region had an abundance of gold and silver mines, notably in the rich mining district around Mount Pangaeus, which were worked by the local tribes and foreigners, including the Thasians, who kept a foothold on the mainland. The mineral riches also attracted the interest of the Athenians, who defeated the Thasians in 463 and again in 375 B.C. so as to take over their mainland settlements.
It is clear that the Macedonian kings intervened in the commer- cial affairs of their northern neighbours, for they issued a great quantity of silver coinage during the period c.498 to c.369 B.C. Soon afterward, Philip II annexed the Pangaean region, finding great success in his mining activities, which allowed him and his son, Alexander III, to use their newfound wealth to trans- form their kingdom from a regional to an international power.
Coin production by tribes in the region seems to have occurred principally from about 530 to 450 B.C., with the bulk of the large-denomination issues apparently being issued from c.485 to 460 B.C. It has long been suggested that these large silver coins would have been inconvenient for local needs, but this cannot be taken for granted. Even though hoard evidence shows that they were exported to the Near East, the Levant, and Egypt, that does not preclude the prospect of their local use. One need only consider the traditions of large, cast bronze money in Central Italy for a more dramatic parallel.
Large-denomination silver coins of tribes in this region often shared designs. This octodrachm (or tristater) of the Orrescii, a tribe known only from its coinage, bears an obverse composi- tion that is virtually identical to that found on coins of the same denomination issued contemporarily by the Edones, the Ichnai and the Tyntenoi. The meaning of this design, which shows a naked, bearded man wearing a Causia and holding two spears, conducting two oxen, the nearer with its head lowered, the further with its head raised, is not certainly known.
The figure may be a herdsman or a local hero performing a feat from some local myth which, perhaps, is represented in a different format on coins of the Derrones, on which a man
drives an ox-cart. The most common belief, however, is that the figure is the god Hermes in the midst of stealing the cattle of the sun. This view might find support in a contemporary dodeca- drachm of the Derrones (Svoronos, L'Hellénisme primitif de la Macédoine, pl. I, 8) that shows on its obverse a man standing between two oxen, but instead of spears he holds a caduceus.