Derrones Dodekadrachm

288, Lot: 107. Estimate $4000. Sold for $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES, Derrones. Circa 480-465 BC. AR Dodekadrachm (36mm, 37.12 g). Driver, holding goad in right hand, driving ox cart left; above, crested Corinthian helmet left / Triskeles. HPM 17; SNG ANS -; Pozzi 707 = Pozzi (Boutin) 1463. VF, toned, typical weakness on reverse. Rare.

The context and meaning of the types of the Derrones' dodekadrachms are still being debated. Little is known of this tribe other than what can be gleaned from their surviving coinage. Hoard find spots suggest that they inhabited inland Paeonia, and the absence of their coins from the Asyut hoard suggests that the coinage postdates the burial of that hoard. The obverse type depicts a male figure who is most likely the tribal king and hereditary high priest, while the helmet suggests a military reference.