Beginnings of Macedonian Regal Coinage

CNG 85, Lot: 276. Estimate $500. Sold for $725. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander I. 498-454 BC. AR Diobol (13mm, 2.02 g). Struck circa 480-470 BC. Forepart of goat right / Quadripartite incuse square. AMNG III/2, p. 137, 23 (Uncertain Macedon); Traité I 1948 (Paros); Weber 1845 (Thraco-Macedonian); Leu 81, lot 174 (Alexander I); CNG 78, 321 (Alexander I). VF, porous. Extremely rare, possibly the fifth known.

The attribution of this piece is still conjectural. With the exception of Traité, all references and prior sales have placed these coins within the Thraco-Macedonian region based on their fabric and style. The most obvious attribution would be to the Thraco-Macedonian tribe of the Mygdones or Krestones, but Lorber’s study of their coinage (C. Lorber. “The Goats of ‘Aigai’” in pour Denyse) does not address this particular issue. Regardless, the type, style, and fabric of these coins are not consistent with the diobols that Lorber did reassign to those tribes. The Leu and CNG coins were attributed to Alexander I, erroneously based on the assertion that Lorber assigned this coinage to that king. Such an attribution, though, is not unfounded, as there is a similar goat forepart on the reverse of his early tetradrachms, particularly those assigned to his second group (cf. SNG ANS 24-6). Although the dating of the present issue is given to correspond to this group, it is possible that it may also belong to Alexander’s group I coinage, which featured a goat head on the reverse of some tetradrachms (cf. SNG ANS 12-15).