Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 294. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ILLYRO-PAEONIAN REGION, Damastion. Circa 360-345 BC. AR Tetradrachm (13.35 gm). Laureate head of Apollo right / Tripod, legs ending in lion's feet, set on basis; magistrate Kephisophon. May, Damastion 53d (this coin); cf. SNG Ashmolean 3313. Toned, good VF, nice flan. ($1000)

From the Kutina hoard (Numizmaticar May 1935. pg. 35, 5).

Damastion, at an uncertain location in the wilds on ancient Illyria (modern Albania), controlled a very productive silver mining industry in the 4th century BC. The silver it provided helped to support the allies opposing the expansion of Macedon. Its minor coinage illuminates its role as a mining community, featuring mining implements and a silver ingot. Is it possible that the thick basis on which the tripod rests is also an ingot? The prominance given the name of Kephisophon and his compatriot Herakleidas suggests they may have been more than mere magistrates, perhaps tyrants. No other certain individual name appears on Damastion coinage.