Triton XV, Lot: 773. Estimate $150. Sold for $6500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Trikka. 2nd half of the 5th century BC. AR Obol (11mm, 0.70 g, 12h). Free horse prancing l., border of dots / TP-I above, KKA r. down, the A upside down, female figure (Herkyna) in long chiton, advancing r., head turned to look behind her, she lifts the folds of her drapery with her r. and with her l. holds a goose close to her body, the head of the bird looking r., in field l, graffiti Π; all in shallow incuse square. See Triton VII (13 January 2004) 190 (same reverse die but the obverse to right). VF, lightly toned; small die flaw above horse’s head on the obv., probably the 2nd known (?) and a fascinating coin.

Herkyna was a daughter of Trophonios and once, while she was playing with Core, the daughter of Demeter, in the grove of Trophonios near Lebadeia in Boiotia, she let a goose fly away, which she carried in her hand. The bird flew into a cave and concealed itself under a block of stone. When Core pulled the bird from its hiding place, a stream, later named Herkyna, gushed forth from under the stone. On the bank of this rivulet a temple was afterwards erected, with the statue of a maiden carrying a goose in her hand. (Pausanias ix. 39. § 2.)