Sale: Triton V, Lot: 1320. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2002.  Sold For $5000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES, The Bisalti. Circa 480 BC. AR Oktadrachm (28.51 gm). Bridled horse walking right; behind is a young man wearing a petasos holding two spears pointed forward / Quadripartite incuse. SNG Ashmolean 2242; Raymond pl. 2, 5; Svoronos 16, pl. XII, 2 (same obverse die). Lightly toned, near EF, some graininess, slight bend in the flan, possible repaired test cut from the edge at 3:00 to the horse's chin. ($5000)

The location of the tribe of the Bisalti was between the Strymon and the Axios rivers. A specimen of this coinage was found in the Ishtib hoard (IGCH 355) and there dated to about 500 BC, which in the light of the Asyut hoard - where they are absent - would seem too early. Price and Waggoner (pg. 39) suggest that the Bisalti and Edoni coinage can be dated to the time of the Athenian expeditions to gain a foothold on the Thracian coast circa 475-465.