★ Unpublished Ainos Tetradrachm of the highest artistic quality ★

THRACE. Ainos. Circa 356-350 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 25 mm, 14.84 g, 12 h). Head of Hermes facing, his hair flowing out to left and right, turned slightly to left, wearing a kausia -like petasos and with his cloak fastened with a broach below his chin. Rev. AINION Goat standing to right; in the field to right, thunderbolt. Apparently unpublished and unknown, especially with this obverse die, but cf. May, Ainos, obverse dies A260 and A263, ( Nomos 7, 2013, 21 for the symbol, and the close resemblance of its obverse to that of May A263 ). Seemingly unique, a truly magnificent 'portrait' of Hermes with an intelligent expression worthy of a Renaissance prince. Traces of corrosion and cleaning marks on the reverse , otherwise, extremely fine.

This stunning addition to the later fourth-century tetradrachm series - undoubtedly the last issue of all - with the thunderbolt symbol (unrecorded by May but known from two other pieces with 'normal' head of Hermes - Nomos 30, 2023, 1265 and Nomos 7, 2013, 21), gives us a head of Hermes wearing a most unusual form of headgear, at least for Ainos. While, as everyone knows, at Ainos Hermes usually wears a close-fitting petasus, what we have here is the kind of soft cap that is typically Macedonian: in fact it closely resembles the caps worn by tribesmen in Afghanistan today, and which first came there with Alexander the Great's army. It is also closely related to the soft cap that first appeared on the drachms from Ainos dated to May's period IV (c. 357-342/1 BC);, and which is also a complete departure from the headgear Hermes wears on all of the city's previous fractions. As noted elsewhere, the thunderbolt symbol used for this coin is closely related to the eagle of Zeus used as a symbol on May's group LXIV, hitherto identified as Ainos's last tetradrachm issue.