Triton XV, Lot: 642. Estimate $750. Sold for $90000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Pharsalos. Last quarter of the 5th century BC. AR Drachm (20.5mm, 6.03 g, 4h). Head of Athena r., wearing a crested Attic helmet adorned with a figure of Skylla raising her hand to shade her eyes; behind Athena’s neck, artist signatures [TI-MI], here off flan / Φ-A to l. and r. above, Σ-P retrograde to l. and r. below, Thessalian cavalryman wearing petasos, chlamys and short chiton with a bead necklace over it, brandishing lagobolon with his r. hand, riding horse that also wears a beaded necklace and has a B branded on its haunch and an Φ on its shoulder, galloping to r. on dotted land line; below, small letters MHT; all in an incuse square with rounded corners. Lavva 154 (V72/R90) corr. [see note below]. Near EF, nicely toned; obv. die with a few rust marks and a touch of corrosion at 6 o’clock. From the collection of Charles Gillet (photofile no. 878).

Ex Sternberg XVII (9 May 1986) 110 (cover coin), hammer CHF 11500; Leu 15 (4 May 1976) Judd, 208.

Lavva’s plate illustration of 154 e is not this coin but a completely different coin of the same dies. This particular specimen got a deservedly extensive write-up in the above Sternberg auction catalogue as the reverse die details are indeed exceptional.