Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 226. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $1100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of THRACE. Lysimachos. 305-281 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.91 g, 12h). Kolophon mint. Struck circa 299-296 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; in left field, forepart of lion left above crescent; pentagram below throne. Thompson 123. Good VF.

Kolophon began to issue coinage for Lysimachos in 302 BC, following its capitulation to Prepelaos, a general of Kassander who was fighting for his Thracian ally against Demetrios I Poliorketes. In 296 BC, shortly after it began to issue the new Lysimachos type coinage, Kolophon resisted Thracian rule, probably at the instigation of Demetrios, who was preparing to bring his army to Asia Minor from Greece. Kolophon and Smyrna joined forces in an engagement against Lysimachos, but were unsuccessful, the result of which Kolophon was destroyed, and a large part of its population relocated to Ephesos.