Rare Gold Drachm from Thasos, C. 380 BCThe obverse has the image Dionysos wearing an ivy-wreath and

Rare Gold Drachm from Thasos, C. 380 BC

The obverse has the image Dionysos wearing an ivy-wreath and the reverse has the inscription ΘAΣION behind Herakles, who’s wearing a lion’s skin headdress, kneeling and shooting an arrow, a K is inscribed on the right, all within a linear square within an incuse square. This rare coin sold at auction for around 82,500 USD.

Thasos is an island off the ancient Thracian coast in the northern Agean Sea. The island was important in wine trade and also controlled rich gold and silver mines on the mainland. It was colonized at an early date by Phoenicians who founded a temple to the god Melqart, whom the Greeks identified as “Tyrian Heracles.” The temple still existed in the time of Herodotus.