292, Lot: 1. Estimate $1000. Sold for $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Larissa. Circa 479-460 BC. AR Drachm (15mm, 5.09 g, 3h). Horse grazing left on dotted groundline; above, upside down partridge-like bird / ΛARI-SA[I]O-N counterclockwise from lower left, sandal of Jason left; above, double-axe right; all within incuse square. BCD Thessaly II - (but cf. 130/129 for obv./rev.); BCD Thessaly I -; Herrmann -; Traité -; BMC -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG München -; SNG Fitzwilliam -; SNG Lockett -; SNG Delepierre -; SNG Alpha Bank -; Jameson -; Weber -. VF, even gray tone, minor edge splits, light porosity. Very rare early drachm, and seemingly unrecorded with the double-axe on the reverse. None in the ANS photofile.

From the BCD Collection.

A note from BCD from the Triton sale (following lot 130): “This (bird symbol) is the second of the three known symbols on the archaic drachms of Larissa and the most difficult to identify precisely. A “partridge-like bird” is the best guess, but even so, the reason for choosing this and not an eagle or a dove - much commoner in coin iconography - escapes us.”