Nomos 20

MACEDON. Dikaia. Circa 450-425/0 BC. Tetrobol (Silver, 14 mm, 2.29 g, 1 h). Head of a nymph to left, her hair in waves around her head and a bun at the back. Rev. Δ-Ι/Κ/Α-Ι/Α Head of a bull to right; all within an incuse square. BMFA 803. Schönert-Geiss 33, 12 (same dies). SNG Berry 492. Traité II, 4, 1437 and pl. CCCXL 2 (Berlin) and 3 (London). Very rare. A coin of particularly elegant, serene Classical style. Minor flan crack, otherwise, extremely fine.

From a German collection, acquired in Munich in the 1990s.

The main problem with the coinage of "Dikaia" is that there were two cities of that name, one in Macedon and one in Thrace! The key to their attribution is the fact that the Macedonian Dikaia – actually on the west coast of the Chalkidiki – was founded by settlers from Eretria on Euboia; and nymphs and bulls, as the heads of a nymph and a bull that we have here, were the badges of Euboia! Thus, they are wholly appropriate for the coins of the Macedonian Dikaia, but not the one in Thrace.