Five Silver Tetradrachms of King Patraos of Paeonia

Kingdom of Paeonia, circa 335–315 B.C.

Five silver tetradrachms struck for Patraos, king of the Paeonians, whose small kingdom lay north of Macedon. His reign overlapped with that of Alexander the Great, and Paeonian horsemen rode as allies in Alexander's army. Each coin bears the laureate head of Apollo to the right. On the reverse, a Paeonian cavalryman on a rearing horse spears a fallen warrior sheltering behind his shield, with the king's name, ΠΑΤΡΑΟΥ, around the edge. They are thought to have been struck at Astibos or Damastion. Found together in the Paeonian Hoard and kept together since their sale in New York in 1969, the five are offered as a group. Fine to very fine, with varied and sometimes off-centre strikes, edge splits to some flans, untoned surfaces and natural wear from circulation.

From the Paeonian Hoard; Sotheby's, New York, 9 December 1969, where acquired as a group by a private New York collector; by whom bequeathed to the present owner. Their origin in the 1969 sale was confirmed in writing by Morton & Eden, London, in January 2016; a copy accompanies the coins.

IGCH 410; Coin Hoards I, 40. Sotheby's / Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 9 December 1969.

Compare a tetradrachm of the same type, purchased from Edward Perry Warren in 1900, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (00.177). For the type, see HGC 3.1, 148; SNG Copenhagen 1390; Sear, Greek Coins 1520.