Two Rare Tribal Issues

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 126. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $8500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES, Bisaltai. Circa 475-465 BC. AR Oktadrachm (27.91 g). CIS-AL-TI-K-WN, horse walking right, bridle held by nude warrior behind, walking right, wearing petasos and holding two spears / Quadripartite incuse square. HPM pl. XI, 5-6 var. (breaks in ethnic); AMNG III/2, 4 var. (same); SNG ANS -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG Ashmolean 2242 var. (same). Near EF, toned, very minor porosity. Excellent detail for issue. Rare.

SECTION INTRO:
During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, the Greeks settled the coastal regions of Macedon and Thrace. The mountainous interior, however, they left to numerous indigenous tribal groups who controlled the various gold and silver mines there. Most of the tribal coinage consists of large silver denominations which are believed to have originally been used as tribute payments to the Persians who occupied the region from circa 513-476 BC. This argument is strongly supported by the fact that the tribal coins conform to the Phoenician weight standard and are today found as far afield as Mesopotamia and Syria. Nonetheless, more recent hoard evidence has shown that these large denominations continued to be minted after the Persian period, until approximately 465 BC, possibly coinciding with victory of the tribes over the Athenians at the battle of Drabeskos. While it is tempting to assign the coinage for military purposes during this period, the reason for these later issues are as yet unknown.

ON THE BISALTAI:
The Bisaltai were a tribe of Pelasgian or Thracian origin and occupied the territory between the rivers Echedoros and Strymon, including the metalliferous mountains which separate the territory of the Bisaltai from the territory of the Krestonioi and Mygonia on the west (Herodotos 7, 115). At the time of the invasion of Xerxes in 480 BC the Bisaltai were governed by a Thracian ruler who was independent of Macedonian influence, and refused to assist the Great King of Persia when his army crossed Thrace to invade mainland Greece. At some point after the Persian retreat, Alexander I of Macedon, who was in the service of Persians as early as 492 BC, annexed the territory as far as the Strymon valley. Capturing its rich silver mines, he issued the first regal Macedonian coinage, which is indistinguishable from the Bisaltian but for the placing of his own name. The absence of Bisaltai oktadrachms in the Asyut hoard led Price and Waggoner to suggest a mintage date of circa 475-465 BC. This coinage was terminated about the same time as the disaster at Drabeskos in 465/4 BC, in which the Athenian colonists of Ennea Hodoi (later Amphipolis) were exterminated by the native Thracians, though it is unknown whether this coinage is directly related to the Bisaltai’s involvement in this conflict.