Exquisite Unpublished Posthumous Issue

Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 107. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander III ‘the Great’. 336-323 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.90 g, 12h). Uncertain mint. Posthumous issue, circa late 2nd century BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin; monogram behind / AΛEΞANΔPOY, Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; monogram in left field. Unpublished. EF, toned, die break on obverse.

This issue clearly belongs among the late 2nd century BC issues of posthumous Alexanders of Asia Minor. The presence of the pellet border limit the possible mints to only a handful, and the style is most reminiscent of those struck at Rhodes. Almost all issues during this period feature some symbol that is the signature of the particular mint, such as the maeander pattern at Magnesia, the lion at Samos, and the sphinx at Chios. All of the issues attributed to Rhodes feature a rose, with an additional monogram or name, presumably of the mint official for a particular issue. Although the rose is not present here, the style is nearly identical to the Rhodian coins, and the complex monogram is similar in construct to those found on the Rhodian coins.