Triton XIX, Lot: 85. Estimate $7500. Sold for $8500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MACEDON, Mende. Circa 460-423 BC. AR Tetradrachm (24.5mm, 16.53 g, 2h). Inebriated Dionysos, wearing chiton draped from his waist, holding in right hand a kantharos propped on his right knee, reclining left on the back of an ass standing right; barley grain in exergue / MEN-ΔA-I-ON within linear square around vine of six grape clusters within linear square; all within shallow incuse square. Noe, Mende 89 (same dies); cf. AMNG III/2, 20; SNG Blackburn 561 (same dies); Kraay & Hirmer 404 var. (rev. type, same obv. die); Kunstfreund 140 var. = Gillet 764 var. (rev. type, same obv. die). Near EF, deeply toned, granular surfaces. Rare.

From the Friend of a Scholar Collection. Ex Lanz 54 (12 November 1990), lot 115.

This coin is the same weight as the piece Noe listed as having been seen in commerce for his no. 89. Judging from the rarity of this issue, this coin may be the coin seen by Noe, and thus would be from the 1913 Kalliandra Hoard (IGCH 358).

The city of Mende, located on the Pallene Peninsula on the eastern shore of the Thermaic Gulf was, according to Thucydides (4.123.1), founded by Eretria in the 8th century. It later founded colonies of its own: Neapolis on the eastern coast of Pallene, and Eion at the mouth of the river Strymon near Amphipols. Mende's wealth is indicated by the high amounts of tribute paid to the Delian Confederacy: eight talents until 451-450 BC, and then amounts ranging form five to nine talents after 438-437 BC. During the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) Mende originally sided with Athens, but then, on the urging of the oligarchs, went over to the Spartan general Brasidas. It eventually returned to the Athenian side, but is not mentioned in connection with the Peace of Nicias. From 415-414 BC, Mende again appears in the Athenian Tribute Lists, but by the fourth century the city was only minting copper coins.

The Dionysiac types of Mende proclaim it as a famous wine producing city, as attested by its amphoras that have been found throughout the Mediterranean. On this delightful coin, Dionysos, who rules wine and winemaking, is shown being carried home drunk from a symposium, in a state of careless joy that links the world of men with the Olympians – at least until the morning.