Struck in Pharsalos, the supposed mythic location of Homer’s Phthia and birthplace of Achilles, this beautiful coin is notable for several reasons. Firstly, the reverse design pays homage to the regions famed cavalry and practice of horse breeding. In fact, it is said that Bucephalus (Alexander the Great’s famous horse) came from Thessaly. More historically ambiguous, but perhaps more interesting for its obscurity, are the supposed engraver’s signatures. Originally, Babelon posited that the small Greek letters which can be seen behind Athena’s helmet on the obverse were local magistrates. However, when Stella Lavva wrote her seminal work on the coinage of Pharsalos, she argued instead that they were in fact the signatures of die engravers. This specific example, called the “T over ʘ”, was supposedly engraved by Telephantos.

The upper letters T, TE, and TH were all attributed to Telephantos, who Lavva thought could be the famous Thessalian sculptor Telephanes. She also thought that the second, lower, letter (A, ʘ, or MI) were the signatures of either apprentices or secondary engravers. Regardless, the dies used to strike this “T over ʘ” coin belongs to Lavva’s “Series B”, struck between ca. 424-405/4 BC. They were quite isolated with only two die pairings (1 obverse and 2 reverse die).