Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 234. Estimate $2500.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACE, Abdera. Circa 411/0-386/5 BC. AR Tetradrachm (12.98 gm, 9h). Molpagores, magistrate. [ABDHRI]TEWN, griffin seated left, right forepaw raised / EPI MOL-PAGOREW, female (kalathiskoi) wearing short chiton and tall circular headdress dancing right; all within shallow incuse square. May, Abdera, Group C, 313 (A228/P266; this coin); AMNG II 100 (same dies as plate coin); BMC Thrace -; SNG Copenhagen -; Traité pl. CCCXXXV, 15 (same dies). EF, attractive light iridescent toning, obverse struck a little off-center. ($2500)

The kalathiskoi dancers were associated with the pastoral festival of Apollo Karneios, hence the headdress shaped like a basket or modius. Another version of their dance was termed molph and the type is clearly a punning reference to the magistrate.

See lot 230 for more information on the Abdera and its coinage.