★ An exceptional stater from Ennea Odoi (?) ★

MACEDON. Ennea Odoi (?). Circa 500-480 BC. Stater (Silver, 18 mm, 8.10 g). Cow standing left, head turned right towards calf suckling right below. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. Asyut -. Rosen 159 ( same obverse die, as 'Thraco-Macedonia, uncertain'). SNG ANS 68 var. (with EN above cow, as 'Aineia'). Svoronos, Hellenism, Pl. XVIII, 24 var. (with EN above cow). Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. A bright and very attractive piece, sharply struck and well centered. About extremely fine.

From a European collection, formed before 2005.

The attribution of this beautiful issue to a specific mint is seriously hampered by the fact that the obverse type was very popular among a great number of cities from Illyria to the Levante. However, hoard finds and stylistic comparison indicate a Thraco-Macedonian origin of the series, perhaps from the city of Ennea Odoi, as some examples carry the ethnic 'EN' above the cow. The archaic settlement of Ennea Odoi was situated on a strategically important crossroad near the mouth of the Strymon river (Ennea Odoi literally means: 'nine roads'); Thukydides reports that it was captured in 437 BC by the Athenian general Hagnon, who founded the city of Amphipolis at this spot to get access to the important Thraco-Macedonian natural resources such as gold, silver and timber.