Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 267. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $375. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of THRACE. Sparadokos. Circa 445-435 BC. AR Diobol (1.22 gm). Olynthos mint. Forepart of horse left / Eagle flying left with serpent in beak. Peter pg. 63; Youroukova 20; SNG Copenhagen 1065. VF. ($300)

Sparadokos was the first of the Odrysian kings of Thrace to strike coinage. The use of the eagle suggests he occupied the Macedonian city of Olynthos and struck his coins there. Sparadokos and his brother and co-ruler Sitalkes commanded an impressive cavalry force which posed a constant threat to the neighboring kingdom of Macedon, a threat that did not recede until Philip II defeated the last independent Odrysian kings, Kersobleptes and Teres II in 341 BC. Although frequently mentioned by ancient historians such as Thucydides, the full history and chronology of the Thracian kings remains uncertain, but it is an uncertainty that may become clarified as more coins of these rulers surface.