Triton XV, Lot: 449. Estimate $75. Sold for $300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Meliboia. Mid to late 4th century BC. Æ Chalkous (15mm, 3.39 g, 4h). Head of nymph r., wearing bead necklace and pendant earring in the form of small bunch of grapes, her hair rolled up into a sakkos behind her head / Μ[Ε] r. down, [Λ]I l. up, both retrograde, bunch of grapes and two small vine leaves hanging from vine tendril. Rogers 392 var. [hairstyle and letter arrangement slightly different]. Fine, green patina with some areas of red; obv. very slightly off centre.

Acquired in March 1987 and said to have been found near Amphipolis.

This coin, as well as lots 446 and 453.1 to 453.3, have appreciably larger heads on their obverses than other bronzes from this period. Perhaps they were a different denomination, but as the small ones are Chalkoi and the facing head types Dichalka, the writer, perhaps wrongly, hesitates to call them Trihemichalka (one and a half Chalkous). However, as Meliboia’s commercial dealings were probably directed more towards the islands and the north of Greece than the rest of Thessaly, it may be that these larger Chalkoi were better suited for the Macedonian trade where it could be claimed that they were Dichalka.