Teos (BC 300) Didrachm

ca 300 BC. AR Didrachm (5.99g). Griffin seated right / Anakreon seated right, plucking a lyre; magistrate [ΠΡ]ΟΚΛΕΙΔΗΣ. Unpublished types. Nicely toned, good VF, strike a bit uneven on the obverse. Unique.

This is the second known example of an Anakreon didrachm, the first being a coin that turned up last year with the magistrate's name Aristonax. The magistrate Prokleides also appears on a drachm that shares its obverse die with an Aristonax drachm (see CNG Auction 55, lot 519). Anakreon (fl. late 6th Century BC) was a lyric poet who was a native of Teos. This issue marks his first appearance on a coin, and in fact this is probably the first appearance of any poet on a coin. Anakreon continued to appear on coins from Teos down through Roman times.