Islands off Thrace. Thasos. Circa 168/7-148 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 36 mm, 16.97 g, 12 h). Head of a youthful Dionysos to right, wearing elaborate ivy wreath with leaves and berries. Rev. ΘΑΣΙΩΝ ΗΡΑΚΛΕΟΥΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ Youthful Herakles, nude but for drapery over his shoulder and left arm, standing facing, his head to left, holding a club in his right hand and resting his left at his waist; in field to left, Μ. Dewing 1338. Of a remarkably florid and baroque style, very attractively toned and struck on a broad flan. Extremely fine. From the Cinquantenaire Collection, Switzerland, almost certainly acquired from Tradart in the early 1980s. The late Hellenistic tetradrachms of Thasos are very common, and their imitations are legion, but original issues from Thasos that are both of fine style and well struck are quite another matter. Coins like the present piece are actually quite scarce; in fact, they are very hard to find as pretty as this.