Triton XVII, Lot: 131. Estimate $7500. Sold for $5500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MACEDON, Sermyle. Circa 500-470 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 16.70 g). Attic standard. Warrior, holding spear aloft in right hand, on horseback right; ΣERMYΛIAO-N below / Quadripartite incuse square of swastika pattern, four-pointed star in center. AMNG III/2, 3, pl. XXI, 5 = Traité I 1668 = Hirsch 987 (same obv. die); SNG ANS –; Leu 81, lot 172 = Leu 48, lot 124 (same obv. die); Sternberg XVI, lot 101 (same obv. die). Good VF, toned, usual slight granularity, a few scratches under tone. Rare.

From the RAJ Collection, purchased in 1997 from F. Shore. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica Autumn Sale 95 (26 October 1995), lot 172; Numismatica Ars Classica 7 (2 March 1994), lot 221; Leu 45 (26 May 1988), lot 414; Hess–Leu 45 (12 May 1970), lot 127.

Very little is known of the early history of Sermyle. During the Greco-Persian wars, the city supplied troops and ships to the Persians, and afterward became a member of the Thracian District of the Delian League. During the Peloponnesian War, many of their citizens were killed by the Peloponnesians, and Sermyle was turned over to the Chalkidians until the Peace of Nikias, whereafter the city appears under Athenian control. In the 4th century BC, Sermyle joined the Chalkidian League, and was apparently one of the cities destroyed by Philip II, as it disappears from the historical record after 348 BC. The coinage of the city was small, with a short issue of silver tetradrachms and fractions in the early 5th century, and a limited issue of bronze in the early 4th.