109, Lot: 17. Estimate $300. Sold for $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ILLYRO-PAEONIAN Region, Damastion. Circa 360-345 BC. AR Tetradrachm (22mm, 12.99 gm). Laureate head of Apollo right / Tripod, legs ending in lion's feet, set on basis; magistrate Kephisophon. May, Damastion 64. VF, toned, some corrosion.

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection. Ex Spink America (7 December 1999), lot 601.

Damastion, at an uncertain location in the wilds of 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's coinage.