470-430 BC Macedon, Acanthus Silver Lion and Bull Tetradrachm NGC Choice About Uncirculated 5x3

A lion brings down a bull in mid-stride, and NGC judged the engraving good enough to award this tetradrachm its Fine Style designation. Acanthus sat on the Chalcidice coast near Mount Athos, and its heavy silver tetradrachms traveled far beyond Greece in trade. The city struck this lion-and-bull type from roughly 470 to 430 BC, when Athens and Sparta were circling each other toward war. Worn and banker-marked survivors are common enough, but pieces that kept this much relief and detail are a different matter.

The obverse shows the lion crouched over the bull's back, its mane cut into sharp raised tufts while the bull twists its head down and back in a final effort to escape. A floral ornament fills the field behind the animals, and a beaded border rings the whole scene. The strike is bold and centered, with the musculature of both animals standing in sharp relief. On the reverse, a shallow quadripartite incuse square carries the letters of the ethnic AKANOION arranged in the corners and along the sides, a hallmark of the city's classical issues.

NGC graded this tetradrachm Choice About Uncirculated with a Strike of 5/5 and Surface of 3/5, adding the Fine Style designation and noting a scuff. The surfaces carry deep cabinet toning with warm reddish highlights that settle into the recesses and set off the devices. A perfect Strike score on a coin more than 2,400 years old speaks to well-cut dies and a careful blow from the hammer, and the Fine Style note places it above the ordinary run of the type. For those seeking a bold, high-relief example of the famous Acanthus lion and bull, this coin delivers. The coin pictured is the exact coin you will receive.

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