Second Known Terone Didrachm

CNG 106, Lot: 152. Estimate $1000. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MACEDON, Terone. Circa 490-480 BC. AR Didrachm (19.5mm, 8.37 g). Amphora / Quadripartite incuse square. Hardwick Group II, p. 123, n. 53 corr. (not a forgery) = Giessener Münzhandlung 46, lot 94 (same dies); otherwise unpublished. VF, toned, a few scuffs, pit on obverse. Extremely rare, the second known.

From the Belgica Collection, purchased from Salon Numismatique, Munich, in the 1990s.

In his survey of the coinage of Terone, Hardwick questioned the authenticity of the Giessener Münzhandlung coin due to its low weight, and for the fact that the obverse type was an amphora, rather than an oinochoe, which he expected on all fractions. The present coin, though, is struck at the correct weight expected of a Euboic standard didrachm. Thus, the light weight of the GM piece, from the same die and punch, could be due to crystallization or some other natural cause. Hardwick’s doubts regarding the typology are also not dispositive, since no other didrachms are known for the series, and so apparently the oinochoe is only canonical for smaller fractions.