Coins from The RAJ Collection of Macedon

Triton XVII, Lot: 116. Estimate $15000. Sold for $35000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MACEDON, Akanthos. Circa 470-430 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 17.20 g, 11h). Attic Standard. Lion right, attacking bull crouching left; in exergue, fish left / AKA-N-ΘIO-N in shallow incuse around quadripartite square, the quarters raised and granulated. Cf. Desneux 95 and 97–8 (unlisted dies); AMNG III/2, 21; SNG ANS –; Numismatica Genevensis SA 3, lot 23 (same dies). EF, even light gray toning. Lovely realistic style, exceptional for the early Classical period.

Akanthos is located in the Chalkidike near the point where the Akte peninsula joins the mainland. In the late sixth century BC, this city began striking coinage, apparently to facilitate the increased trade with those Attic Greek colonies and emporia that had recently been established there. During this same period, as the Persian Empire began its westward expansion into Europe, these coins also served as a source of tribute, part of the Medizing process, in which the locals allied themselves with the Persians. During the Greco-Persian Wars (499-479 BC), Akanthos supported the Persians and, in early 480 BC, provided labor for the construction of a canal across the peninsula, so that the Persian fleet could avoid sailing around the treacherous waters below Mt. Athos at the peninsula's southernmost tip (Hdt. 7. 22-24, 115, 117).

The lion and bull design is common to the tetradrachms of Akanthos from the sixth to the early fourth century BC. The earliest tetradrachms are characterized by thick, dumpy flans, a variable style of incuse, and the head of the lion in three-quarter perspective. Subsequent issues, however, have a flan that is relatively thinner and broader, an incuse of a more regularly quadripartite style, and the head of the lion in profile. The floral symbol in the exergue, which first appeared in some of the earliest tetradrachms, became more stylized in subsequent issues and used other symbols as well, such as the fish. Subsequently, a pellet-in-annulet appeared above the lion in the upper field of the obverse, followed by the addition of a subsidiary letter, and, finally, letter combinations and symbols to distinguish later issues in this large series.

THE RAJ COLLECTION

Classical Numsimatic Group is proud to present coins from the RAJ Collection in this sale, with an emphasis on the coins of the cities and kings of Macedon. The consignor is a student of history, who was drawn naturally to ancient and medieval coins, and has formed a variety of collections over the past decades. While his core collection has focused on medival Europe, he has also assembled diverse collections of Greek coinage, the Magna Graecia portion of which was donated to the Jocelyn Museum in Nebraska. His goal with his Macedonian collection was to obtain a single representative example of each city and king. The following lots of Macedon are from the RAJ Collection: 118, 124, 125, 127-38, 144, 156, 158, 160-2, 164, 166, 169, 174, 175, 177-9, 183, and 186.