Obverse: A Youth Holding Two Spears, Standing
to the Right Behind a Bridled Horse Facing Right
Reverse: Quadripartite Incuse Square
Intensive minting of in coinage is noted in
eastern Macedonia during the Archaic period,
principally among the 'Thraco-Macedonian'
people and their autonomous city-states, one of
the most important of which was the Bisalti tribe.
Their mints began to function after the mid-6th
century B.C. and gradually ceased after the end
of the Persian Wars. The coins were of
exceptionally high quality and minted in great
numbers. These two factors indicate the
booming economic state of the issuing authority
as well as its connection to the prevailing artistic
trends in Greece. Many of these coins really are
tiny works of art in the Archaic style. Their
depictions present a great variety of subjects:
legends of the founding of cities, regional cults,
local products and even subjects inspired by
works of art, chiefly statues. The coins of the
"Thraco-Macedonian" peoples and of the
autonomous cities were made of silver, according
to varying standards of measure, and exported in
large quantities to the markets of the eastern
Mediterranean, attesting to the close commercial
links with that area.
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or your purse? What eras and lands have
the coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of
who touched the coin before us, or where the
coin will venture to after us. More than money,
coins are a symbol of the state that struck them,
of a specific time and place, whether currency in
the age we live or an artifact of a long forgotten
empire. This stunning hand-struck coin reveals
an expertise of craftsmanship and intricate
sculptural detail that is often lacking in
contemporary machine-made currencies. This
coin is more than an artifact; it is a memorial an
ancient culture passed down from the hands of
one generation to another, from one civilization
to another.
- (C.2055)
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