Sale: CNG 73, Lot: 172. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 13 September 2006.  Sold For $445. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Perseus. 179-168 BC. AR Drachm (2.76 g, 12h). Third Macedonian War issue. Mint on Samothrace; Gorgos, magistrate. Stuck circa 171/0 BC. Head of Helios facing slightly right / Rose with bud to right; GORGOS above; to left, caduceus; P-O flanking stem. Ashton, Clubs 1-5/11 (A1/P8; unlisted die combination); SNG Copenhagen -; BMC 171-172 (Rhodes). EF, minor die rust on obverse.

R. Ashton recently reattributed the Gorgos+caduceus issues from Thessaly to Samothrace (see Ashton, Clubs, pp. 73-77). Ashton has argued persuasively that this coinage was struck by Perseus to pay Cretan mercenaries serving in his army. The Rhodian coinage circulated on Crete, and thus was a familiar and trusted currency for the Cretans, and it is likely that they would have required payment in that form (see also NC 1988, pp. 29-30), and SM 146 (May 1987), p. 34).