MACEDON. Mende. Circa 510-480 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 27 mm, 17.53 g). Mule advancing to left; on its back, bird standing left. Rev. Incuse square of mill-sail form. Asyut 195 (this coin). S. P. Noe: The Mende (Kaliandra) Hoard, in: ANS NNM 27 (1926), p. 6, 1. Rare. Beautifully toned and of powerful late Archaic style. Two test cuts on the obverse, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.



In 1969, a large and remarkably diverse hoard of archaic Greek silver coins was discovered near the town of Asyut in Middle Egypt. This hoard contained nearly 900 pieces minted by cities across the Greek world, including many from Macedon and the Thraco-Macedonian region. The study and subsequent publication of this hoard by M. Price and N. Waggoner in 1975 led to the re-dating of several archaic coin series, and to this day, the Asyut Hoard remains one of the most important reference groups for archaic Greek coinage. Price and Waggoner concluded that the hoard was likely buried around 475 BC, during a period when contacts between Hellas and Egypt intensified, as increasing numbers of Greeks traveled to Egypt as merchants, mercenaries, or scholars, foreshadowing the later influx of Greeks into the country following its conquest by Alexander the Great.