Extremely Rare Paeonian Issue

Sale: CNG 82, Lot: 449. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 September 2009.  Sold For $245. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PAEONIA, Doberos(?). Circa 187-168 BC. Æ 17mm (3.95 g, 3h). Laureate head of Zeus right / Thunderbolt; ΠAIONΩN above, ΔO monogram below. Josifovski 12 (V12[?]/R12); AMNG III/2, p. 5, 35; E. Petrova, “Coins of King Dropion of Paeonia in the Museum of Macedonia” in Macedonian Numismatic Journal 1 (1994), pp. 49-56. VF, brown patina, irregular flan, a few minor deposits. Very rare.

The attribution of this very rare coin type remains a matter of controversy. While the legend certainly places it in Paeonia, the particular issuer is uncertain. The traditional view is that under the Macedonian kings Philip V and Perseus, a number of districts and cities were allowed to produce a local civic coinage, and this issue is thought to be from the district of Doberos (hence the monogram) in Paeonia (see AMNG and EHC, pp. 164-165). A more recent attribution by E. Petrova is that this coin type is an issue of the last Paeonian king, Dropion, circa 250-230 BC. Petrova points out that various stylistic elements of the coin are more typical of the 3rd century coinage of the region, and quite unlike that found in the 2nd century. She also discounts the attribution to Doberos as the city was not involved in the activities of the Macedonian kings, and thus would not have issued coinage relative to their initiatives in Macedon. Josifovski takes a full accounting of the prior evidence, and adds hoard and metrological data, and concludes that no firm data supports either theory (in fact the metrology appears to discount both), and that the coinage requires further evidence.