Mercenary Coinage

239, Lot: 67. Estimate $100. Sold for $155. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Perseus. 179-168 BC. AR Drachm (15mm, 1.98 g, 12h). Third Macedonian War issue. Mint on Samothrace. Gorgos, magistrate. Stuck circa 171/0 BC. Head of Helios facing slightly left / Rose; kerykeion to left. Ashton, Clubs pp. 74-5, 1-35 (dies not listed); SNG Copenhagen -. Good VF, slightly porous.

In his 1988 article on Rodian imitations, R. Ashton has argued persuasively that this coinage was struck by Perseus to pay Cretan mercenaries serving in his army (see "A Series of Pseudo-Rhodian Drachms from Mainland Greece," NC 1988, pp. 29-30). The Rhodian coinage circulated on Crete, and thus was a familiar and trusted currency for the Cretans, and it is likely that they would have required payment in that form (see also Ashton, SM 146 (May 1987), p. 34).