Very rare Mosses Drachm

Sale: CNG 82, Lot: 386. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 September 2009.  Sold For $925. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES, Bisaltai(?). Mosses. Circa 470 BC. AR Drachm (2.86 g, 9h). Horse and horseman, wearing petasos and holding two spears, standing right / MO-Σ-Σ-E-Ω around quadripartite square; all within incuse square. Topalov -; HPM pl. XI, 20 = Traité pl. XLVI, 21; SNG ANS 1016 (Paeonia); Raymond pl. VI, b. VF, toned, porous, die break on obverse, die rust on reverse. Very rare.

Based on stylistic grounds, Raymond argues that this dynast was not of the Bisaltai (Raymond p. 115, n. 4), but rather an independent tribal chieftain who retained a semblance of autonomy while paying tribute to Alexander I of Macedon. Most references retain the Bisaltai attribution, though, and placement among the Paeonian kings (ANS) is even more conjectural.