The Supremacy of Macedon
KINGS of MACEDON. Philip V. 221-179 BC. AR Tetradrachm (28mm, 17.11 g, 12h). Pella mint. Struck circa 202-200 BC. Head of the hero Perseus left, wearing winged helmet surmounted by griffin’s head; harpa in background; all in the center of a Macedonian shield / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΦIΛIΠΠOY, club; all within oak wreath tying to left; M to left. Burrer,
Tetradrachmenprägung 6.3 (A3/R5 – this coin); Reinach 5 (same dies); AMNG III p. 197, 1 (same dies); SNG München 1125 var. (no M). Good VF, lightly toned. Rare.
Ex Triton VIII (11 January 2005), lot 191.
Philip V was the son of the Macedonian king Demetrios II Aitolikos. He was only nine at the time of his father's death in 239 BC, so the kingdom passed to his cousin, Antigonos III Doson, who ruled until 221 BC. The entirety of his reign was devoted to maintaining the supremacy of Macedon in Greece, which inevitably brought the kingdom into conflict with Rome, whose power in Greece was ascendant. Two major wars ensued, the First and Second Macedonian Wars, the latter culminating in the overwhelming defeat of the Macedonians at the Battle of Cynocephalae in 197 BC. Although Philip retained his kingdom, the influence of Macedon was considerably decreased, and Greece passed into the sphere of Rome.
Noted by a beardless Perseus on the obverse and the absence of control marks within the wreath on the reverse, these rare tetradrachms had originally been attributed by Gaebler (in AMNG) to Philip VI Andriskos. Gaebler's attribution was based primarily on his analysis of a number of coins he examined in Berlin upon which he saw apparent traces of undertypes. He concluded that the undertypes were the LEG ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΩΝ tetradrachms, which were issued contemporary to the revolt of Andriskos. Gaebler also noted the crude die engraving of this issue compared to other tetradrachms attributed to Philip V. M. Thompson suggested problems with this theory in her analysis of a hoard from Northern Greece dating to the first half of the second century BC (MN XII [1966], pp. 57–63). The hoard contained a single specimen of this type, but it exhibited much more wear than the latest coins in the hoard. Thompson also noted that an examination of these types in the ANS revealed a higher than expected die count for Andriskos' short reign, and that their style varied, with some being of very good quality. A full reassessment of the coinage was conducted by Boehringer, who examined the coins Gaebler studied, and concluded that the latter's reconstruction of the undertypes was not convincing. Boehringer also noted the wide variance of style, and saw no convincing evidence to suggest these coins were not issued by Philip V (see Boehringer, op. cit., pp. 107–10 and 116–8). A comprehensive die study and analysis of the coinage was most recently conducted by F. Burrer in JNG 59 (2009).
