Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 375. Estimate $250.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $293. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MACEDON (Roman Protectorate), Republican period. Transitional bronze issue. Circa 167-165 BC. Æ Unit (8.56 g, 6h). Facing mask of Silenos, wearing ivy wreath / MAKE/ΔONΩN in two lines, D above; all within oak wreath. MacKay pl. III, 10; Touratsoglou, Macedonia 25; SNG Copenhagen 1324-6. VF, green patina, irregular flan.

Very little is known about this attractive and interesting coin type. It was originally attributed as an issue of the Roman D. Julius Silanus, but more recent scholarship, particularly hoard analyses, has shown this attribution to be untenable. The period to which it is now dated was marked by turmoil caused largely by various barbarian invasions, and coin production was sporadic at all of the Macedonian mints, and probably related to military activity. The Silenos type and oak wreath were common local motifs used on coins in the Thraco-Macedonian region.