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Ancient Coins
F
AMOUS
A
INOS
S
ILVER
T
ETRADRACHM OF
H
ERMES
,
CA
. 466/5-465/4 BC
Enlargement
1612 Thrace, Ainos. Silver Tetradrachm (16.22 g), ca. 466/5-465/4 BC
. Head of Hermes right, wearing petasos.
Reverse:
AINI, goat standing
right; in lower right field, boar' s head; all within incuse square. May 18a; BMFA 772.
Very Rare.
Boldly struck and well centered with a uniform
antique light greyish tone. Some faint scratches on the cheek.
Extremely Fine
.
Estimate Value ...........................................................................................................................................................................$5,000 - UP
The Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from F. Kovacs in 1991. Ex Sotheby' s (19 June 1991), 171, Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection, pt. IV (19-
20 June 1991), 171; Ex NFA VIII (6 June 1980), 68; Ex Boston Museum of Fine Arts Collection (acc. no. 00.182 = purchased in 1900 with funds
from the Catherine Page Perkins Fund).
The obverse of this coin depicts Hermes, who was worshiped at Ainos in his peculiar local aspect as Perpheraios ("the Wanderer"). The Hellenistic
poet, Kallimachos, tells the story of how Epeios, the creator of the Trojan Horse, constructed a wooden cult statue (
xoanon
in Greek) of Hermes
that was washed out to sea. It remained adrift in the Aegean Sea until it was caught in the nets of fishermen near the mouth of the Hebros River
in Thrace. Mistaking the statue for mere driftwood, the fishermen tried to use it for firewood, but it would not burn under any circumstances. Fear-
ful of the miraculous wood, the fisherman threw the statue back into the sea only to have it promptly returned to shore by the waves. The native
Thracians of the area recognized the statue as a divine relic and subsequently built a shrine to house it on the site that later became the Aiolian
Greek colony of Ainos. The Archaic wooden image of Hermes was still worshipped in his temple at Ainos and was sometimes depicted on coins of
the Hellenistic period, but here the god is shown in the idealized anthropomorphic form more familiar to the wider Greek world. Lest there be any
doubt about the god depicted, Hermes' sacred animal, the goat, also appears on the reverse.
Enlargement
1613 Thrace, Ainos. Silver Diobol (1.28 g), ca. 408/7-407/6 BC
. Head of Hermes right, wearing petasos.
Reverse:
AINI, goat standing right,
pawing at ground; below raised foreleg, crab; all within incuse square. May 308 (A189/P207); AMNG II 295. Loevly old cabinet toning.
Extremely
Fine
.
Estimate Value ............................................................................................................................................................................ $600 - 700
From the Herbert & Aphrodite Rubin Collection; Ex NFA IX (10 December 1980), 134.