285, Lot: 70. Estimate $200. Sold for $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Proerna. Late 4th-early 3rd centuries BC. Æ Dichalkon (16mm, 4.78 g, 12h). Head of nymph facing slightly right / Demeter standing left, holding two grain ears and long torch; ΘΦ to left. Rogers 534; BCD Thessaly 719. Good Fine, dark brown patina. Rare.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group 76 (12 September 2007), lot 417.

From the BCD catalogue: “The letters ΘΦ here, as well as monograms of the same letters on other coins of Proerna refer to Phthia (ΦʘIA) the mythical name by which Southern Thessaly (including Proerna) was otherwise known. In Plato’s dialogue Criton, Socrates, while in jail and awaiting his execution, dreams of a beautiful woman in white who, referring to Phthia as an allegory for Paradise, tells him that he will soon ‘arrive at fertile Phthia’.”