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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 2626331, member: 57495&quot;]I know most of us are already forging ahead with 2017 acquisitions, but I&#039;m still mostly occupied with 2016 purchases.&nbsp; This little Thessalian fraction is one of my favorites of the bunch.&nbsp; It&#039;s not in great shape - it&#039;s heavily crystallized, darkly toned, and a broken-off bit of metal before the portrait has been stuck back on with glue - but it&#039;s an issue that&#039;s hard to come by and an intriguing one for those of us who like obscure deities (and animals) on our coins.&nbsp; A <a href="http://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=199304" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=199304" rel="nofollow">CNG</a> auction for one example notes that the issue is &quot;extremely rare and coveted&quot; and a <a href="http://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=182671" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=182671" rel="nofollow">Nomos </a>auction has it as &quot;an extraordinary and unexpected coin of great interest and charm&quot;.&nbsp; And now that I&#039;m done hyping it, I hope you won&#039;t be too underwhelmed when you see my humble example below <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]577092[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>THESSALY, Pherai</b></p><p>Quite Rare. Repaired. AR Hemiobol. 0.27g, 8.3mm. THESSALY, Pherai, circa 360s-350s BC. BCD Thessaly II 694; Imhoof-Blumer 1908, p. 93, 277, pl. VI, 38; see also Nomos 4, 1306 corr. O: Head of Ennodia right: R: Φ-E, hunting dog sitting right.</p><p><i>Ex BCD Collection</i></p><p><br /></p><p>The obverse has a portrait of the Thessalian goddess Ennodia, whose chief centre of worship was the city of Pherai.&nbsp; Ancient writers identified her with Artemis and Hecate, and like them, she was often shown bearing a torch and in the company of a dog.&nbsp; Ennodia&#039;s name means &quot;the one on the road&quot;, and she was a goddess of witchcraft, ghosts, poisons and childbirth.&nbsp; In later centuries, the worship of Ennodia spread to Argos, Kolophon, Macedonia, Sikyon, and also Athens, where the cult of Artemis Pheraia was attested to by Pausanius.</p><p><br /></p><p>On the reverse there is a wonderful depiction of a seated hunting dog.&nbsp; In <i>Hymn to Artemis</i>, by the 3rd century Hellenistic poet Callimachus, one of the names by which Artemis is hailed is &quot;Lady of Pherae&quot;, a reference to Ennodia.&nbsp; In recounting how she came to acquire her pack of hunting dogs, Callimachus writes that Pan gave her six fierce male hounds (&quot;two dogs black-and-white, three reddish, and one spotted&quot;), with a further seven, swift Kynosourian bitches, to complete the pack and bring its total number to thirteen.&nbsp; I imagine that our dog here must be one of them.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Please feel free to share your coins of Pherai or coins with dogs on them! </b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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