Very Rare Tetradrachm of Ilion

CNG 91, Lot: 249. Estimate $4000. Sold for $3500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TROAS, Ilion. Circa 188-133 BC. AR Tetradrachm (36mm, 17.03 g, 1h). Kleon, son of Zoilos, “magistrate”. Helmeted head of Athena right / Athena Ilias standing right, holding distaff and filleted spear; at her feet, owl standing right to right, winged caduceus to left; ΚΛΕ−ΩΝΟΣ across field, ΙΩΙΛΟΥ in exergue. Bellinger T52; A. Bellinger, “The First Civic Tetradrachms of Ilium,” MN VIII (1958), 17; SNG von Aulock –; SNG Copenhagen –; BMC 10. Good VF, lightly toned. Well struck on a broad flan. Very rare.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group 50 (21 September 2005), lot 205.

The names appearing on these issues are not technically magistrates, but wealthy and influential citizens who financed the coinage in return for recognition on the coins (see Bellinger, "The First Civic Tetradrachms of Ilium," ANSMN VIII (1958), p. 23-24). The patronymic form used here has a parallel in the earlier stephanophoric coinage of Magnesia ad Maeandrum (see Jones).