I am an atypical amateur insofar as I am interested in Greek and
Roman monetary
history through a recurring mythological character and
his attributes :
Hermes, Mercury, Turms.
This interest "transports" me from the Pillars of
Hercules to the foothills of the Hindu Kush over a period of about 6 centuries, so that I cannot target either a region or a particular period to hold the realy adequate specialized documentation.
I recently purchased the Tetartemorion AR (6mm, 0.17g)
attached 1 below It represents
- on the
obverse a Corinthian helmet on the left
- on the
reverse: an
amphora and a
caduceus framing the symbol Π all within a filiform frame
Regarding the origin, the seller indicated: "
Troas Neandria circa 450 BC"
As I was trying to find out more, I found a (small) number of similar coins (6 including mine) in sales over the past few years.
According to sellers, the
provenance was:
-
TROAS. Neandria (mine)
-
THRACE –
MACEDONIA (2)
-
MYSIA – Proconnesus (1)
-
ASIA MINOR. Uncertain (2)
I also found in comments on almost identical coin (
Hemiobol or Tetartemorion with Corinthian Helmet +
Amphora) sold in 2014
" Varieties of this
type have appeared at
auction recently, and have been tentatively attributed to Neandria in
Troas, where an early fraction featured a helmet on the
obverse. While an
attribution to a
mint in that region is reasonable, Neandria is probably not correct, as its early fractions consistently feature a ram or barley grain on the
reverse, which were emblematic of the city. At the same time, the nearby city of
Larissa consistently featured an
amphora on the
reverse of nearly all of its coinage, which would make it a more likely candidate" - From
CNG This opens the door to an additional
provenance:
TROAS Larisa
I've scoured internet for items and the only clue I could find relates to Proconnesus in
Mysia, where there are Tetartemorion with a vessel on the
reverse with the symbol Π which also stands for ΠPOKON (Margaret
THOMPSON - The Coinage of Proconnesus)
attached 2 below But ....
- The frame is hollow
- The vessel is an Oenochoë and not an
amphora - The
obverse depicts a
horse Do you have an idea as to the possible
provenance of "my" Tetartemorion or other ways to explore?
cordially
François
