ISLANDS OFF THRACE, Thasos. Circa 480-463 BC. Obol (Silver, 9 mm, 0.58 g). Two dolphins above one another in opposite directions, the upper to right and the lower to left; above, pellet. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. Le Rider, Thasiennes, 9. Clear, well-centered and nicely toned. Extremely fine.

From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, and from the collection of Leo Mildenberg.

Thasos is well-known for its immense series of staters, with satyrs and nymphs, its Classical tetradrachms, and the enormous numbers of later Hellenistic tetradrachms with Dionysos and Herakles (and their imitations). But the island, thanks to rich silver mines, also produced great numbers of fractional silver coins, which were used over a wide area of northern Greece (including present-day Greece, Northern Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey). The types used are often, as here and in the following lots, both attractive and well-made.