Thrace. Ainos. Silver Tetradrachm (15.65 g), ca. 412/1-410/9 BC. Head of Hermes right, wearing petasos with a pelleted rim. Reverse: Goat standing right, AINI above, kerykeion before, all within incuse square. May Ainos Group XXXI, 258b (A161/P167); HGC 3, 1266; Boston MFA 779. In NGC holder graded Ch XF: Strike 4/5; Surface 2/5, Fine Style.

NGC Certification Number 6957065-004

Ex Künker, March 19-23, 2018, lot 214CHAR(8232)
Ex Auctiones A.G. Auction 6, Basel, Sept.30-Oct.1, 1976, lot 79

The mythical and eponymous founder of Ainos was said to be Aeneus son of the god Apollo and father of Kyzikus. The Byzantine Suda suggests that the first settlers were Greeks from Alopekonessos (“Fox Island”) who were later followed by others from Mytilene and Kyme. Throughout its history, its coinage depicted Hermes and the goat. The former, the city’s patron deity, the latter symbolic of the fecund pastureland which gave the city its prosperity. Ainos’ later coins constitute some of the finest numismatic art of the Hellenistic world.