Sale: Nomos 3 & 4, Lot: 1001. Estimate CHF3500.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 May 2011.  Sold For CHF20000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Thessalian League. Circa 470s-460s BC. Drachm (Silver, 5.95 g 5). Forepart of horse to left. Rev. Φ - Ε Wheat grain with hull; all within incuse square. BMC 4 (Pherai) = Franke 1970, 11. Traité I, 1027, 1433 (but drawing wrongly numbered as 1413). Extremely rare, probably the finest example known. Extremely fine.

Ex Helios 2, 25 November 2008, 113 (€6500).

A note from BCD<7b>: The BMC plate piece is holed and certainly from the same reverse, possibly also from the same obverse die. Very few early League drachms are known: cities such as Methylion and, especially, Skotussa took over the minting of this denomination under their own name. Hemidrachms and the smaller fractions are more plentiful and this is also explained by the fact that, during these early times, Thessaly was still a “closed” economy and did not have much need for the large denominations that are usually reserved for bulk overseas transactions.