241, Lot: 60. Estimate $300. Sold for $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Methylion. Late 5th-4th century BC. Æ (12mm, 1.55 g, 5h). Grain ear / Ram standing right. Franke, Erste pp. 1-3 = Triton VIII, lot 285 (same dies); CNG 81, lot 415; CNG 79, lot 192; CNG 78, lot 468; Gorny & Mosch 147, lot 1404; otherwise unpublished. Near VF, dark green patina.

In Schweizer Münzblätter 37 (May 1960), P.R. Franke first published a coin of this type, which recently appeared at auction (Triton VIII, lot 285). On that example, the letters on the left side of the obverse were only partially visible. Franke interpreted them as an A, at the top, and an O, at the midline, leading him to attribute the coin to the city of Olea. Three other examples have appeared at auction recently, but none have been helpful in clarifying the reading. The present coin, struck from the same dies as Franke’s specimen, reveals the true reading: M-E-Θ-V. A survey of the early coinage at Methylion, all extremely rare, reveals the same ethnic and iconography on drachms (Traité I 1424), hemidrachms (CNG 73, lot 189), and obols (CNG 73, lot 190). While this bronze issue clearly postdates the silver coins, it certainly belongs to the earliest period of bronze coinage in Thessaly. An additional note on this type: Franke assumed the name on the reverse to be that of a magistrate, and also assumed the ending was -TOYΣ. However, none of the known coins show the full name, and the legend on the CNG 78 example ends with an A. Accordingly, we have left the legend incomplete.