The Early Tetradrachms of Akanthos

CNG 84, Lot: 204. Estimate $2000. Sold for $4300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MACEDON, Akanthos. Circa 500-480 BC. AR Tetradrachm (23mm, 16.92 g). Attic standard. Lion right, attacking bull crouching left; floral ornament below / Quadripartite incuse square. Gorny & Mosch 138 (2005), lot 1200; otherwise unpublished. VF, light porosity. Extremely rare, the second known of this variety.

The earliest tetradrachms of Akanthos are characterized by thick, dumpy flans. Although the obverse style and incuse on the reverse varied considerably, the head of the lion is always in three-quarter perspective, rather than in profile. Very few coins of this early period currently exist. At the time of Desneux’s study, he identified only two examples, both from the Taranto Hoard (IGCH 1874). Interestingly, Desneux omitted four examples that were known before his study, perhaps because they lacked the floral symbol on the obverse: Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 9 May 1904, 22; Cahn XXXV (1913), 158 = Ars Classica XV (1930), 452; Helbing, 22 March 1926, 79; and de Luynes 1534. The de Luynes is exceptional among these, with a distinctly “primitive” obverse style that suggests it may be the earliest of this group. Except for the Asyut Hoard, which contained 12 examples (Asyut 153-64), and the Dekadrachm Hoard, which contained one (Carradice pl. II, 10), no other hoards are known to contain coins from this early Akanthos group. Only a handful of specimens have appeared on the market since Desneux’s study, mostly from the Asyut find, but also a few new pieces (Hess-Leu 36 [1968], lot 138 = Peus 380 [2004], lot 320; NFA 4 [1977], lot 131; Peus 393 [2007], lot 163). The present coin, by virtue of its thick flan and facing-head lion, certainly belongs to this early period. What is exceptional is not the mere presence of the floral symbol, but its form. Here the “rose” is depicted in a large, naturalistic form, placed below the lion and bull, only extending into, rather than being contained within, the exergue. This is likely the earliest representation of the floral symbol on the coins of Akanthos. Soon, it would be placed into a much more stylized form that is wholly contained within the confines of the exergue. The Gorny & Mosch example is apparently the only other known of this variety, and that specimen has the same incuse die as Desneux 1, which apparently has no floral symbol. This die link establishes that the floral and non-floral symbol issues are at least concurrent, but also possibly consecutive.