Sale: CNG 78, Lot: 358. Estimate $150.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2008.  Sold For $275. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander III ‘the Great’. 336-323 BC. Æ 1/2 Unit (5.13 g, 1h). Uncertain mint in Macedon. Struck under Antipater, Polyperchon, or Kassander, circa 323-317 BC. Young male head right, wearing tainia / Horseman riding left; thunderbolt below. Price 371. Good VF, dark green patina.

An interesting feature of this coin is that the legend is in the genitive, ALEΞANΔPO. In her article on the early macedonian regal coinage, Westermark (p. 308 and 313) noted two types with this feature. The first type has a free horse prancing right, and the legend is dispersed around the horse. In contrast, the second type, of which this coin belongs, has a mounted horse prancing left, the legend is concentrated in the field above the horse, and there is a control mark on the reverse. Both also have a particularly artistic style for the obverse portrait of Apollo, but the first type has an additional mark, a Δ, below Apollo's chin, which appears to be an artist's signature.

Based on the genitive legend and the fine style Apollo portrait, both Gaebler and Imhoof-Blumer placed these two types during the reign of Alexander II, although other scholars, such as Head, Naster, and Grose, disagreed. In her review of the evidence, Westermark casts strong doubt on the attribution of the second type to Alexander II. She notes that the attribution of the first type is certain, but this is based on the discovery of a number of overstrikes, rather than the legend. There are no such overstrikes for the second type. Westermark also notes that "the genitive [form] is by no means unknown for Alexander III."

Other characteristics also discount the attribution of the second type to Alexander II. While Westermark points out the exquisite style of the head of Apollo on the first type, which suggests Δ is an artist's signature, she does not see such a refined style on the second. The positioning of the letters in the legend also suggest the two types belong to separate periods. The spread-out fashion of the legend on the first type is typical of earlier Macedonian regal coins, while the concentrated fashion of the second is typical of later types. Similarly, the reverse types in general, a riderless horse and mounted horse, also correspond to earlier and later types, respectively. Finally, the addition of the control mark on the reverse of the second type also suggests a later issue.

In sum, Price's attribution of the second type to the reign of Alexander III appears to be correct, as all aspects of these coins correspond to the other bronzes that certainly belong to this later period of Macedonian regal coinage.