107, Lot: 82. Estimate $300. Sold for $265. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Seleukos I Nikator. 312-280 BC. AR Drachm (17mm, 3.95 gm, 1h). Seleukeia on the Tigris mint. Struck circa 295-281 BC. Laureate head of Zeus right / BASILEWS SELEUKOU, Athena standing right quadriga of elephants, brandishing spear and shield; anchor above, AB monogram and Q flanking Athena. SC 131.6a; ESM 82; SNG Spaer 101. VF, toned, obverse lamination. Good metal for issue.

After Seleukos' eastern campaign concluded "successfully" in 295 BC, the Seleukid coinage went through a major transformation in its iconography, with many new types reflecting the recent campaign. This particular type came to be the dominant type in Seleukos' later reign, struck at many mints, but was inaugurated in the "second workshop" at Seleukeia and Susa. The type not only reflects the Seleukos' campaign, but also harkens back to the eastern campaign of Alexander III. Association with Alexander the great was predominant in the political propaganda among the early successors of Alexander, and this type served not only to remind the people of their leader's victories, but also the parallel of his eastern success with that of Alexander, implying that Seleukos was on a par with this monumental figure.