Triton XV, Lot: 696. Estimate $1000. Sold for $20000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Pherai. Alexander. Tyrant, 369-358 BC. AR Drachm (18mm, 5.97 g, 2h). EN-[NOΔI-A]Σ from l., down and up circular, Laureate head of Ennodia r., wearing triangular pendant earring / AΛEΞ[AN]ΔP[OY] from above, r. down and circular, lion’s head r., with open jaws. Jameson 2039 (this coin); Weber 2923 (this coin); see also Nomos 4, 1310 for an obverse die by the same hand. Good VF, toned; minor scratches and a dig in the field in front of the forehead on the obverse, small punch on lion’s cheek and scratches inside and in front of its mouth on the reverse; very rare. From the collections of the Earl of Ashburnham, Sir Hermann Weber and Robert Jameson.

Acquired from J. Schulman in Amsterdam, March 1982, for CHF 8500; ex Santamaria 4 May 1961, 120; Sotheby’s 6 May 1895 (Ashburnham) 102.

The Alexander of Pherai drachms are divided into two groups of which this one, with the obverse portrait of Ennodia spelled out in writing, is by far the rarer. These coins probably belong to an initial - and very short-lived - issue together with the unique profile stater (Nomos 4, 1308).