CNG 93, Lot: 132. Estimate $5000. Sold for $4250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MACEDON, Chalkidian League. Circa 382-379 BC. AR Tetradrachm (23mm, 14.45 g, 9h). Olynthos mint. Reverse die signed by Thre-. Head of Apollo right, wearing laurel wreath; floral symbol behind neck / Kithara, retrograde EPΘ on base; X-A-Λ-KIΔ-EΩN above and at sides; all within incuse square. Robinson & Clement Group I, 42 (A32/P38); SNG ANS –; Hirsch 967; CNG 84, lot 208; CNG E-242, lot 30 (all from the same dies). Near EF, bright surfaces, a little die wear. Extremely rare, and amongst the finest known.

Neither Robinson & Clement nor P. Naster (Hirsch) noted the small letters on the base of the kithara, which should be the beginning of a name, possibly the die engraver or mint magistrate. Although the symbol on the obverse is mostly obscured on the three known examples of this die pairing, two recent examples (CNG 84, lot 208 and CNG 91, lot 117) struck from this same obverse die clearly show that it is a floral symbol, not a letter B (as Robinson and Clement suggested).