Unique Kolophon Tetradrachm

CNG 94, Lot: 259. Estimate $500. Sold for $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Antigonos I Monophthalmos. As Strategos of Asia, 320-306/5 BC, or King, 306/5-301 BC. AR Tetradrachm (27mm, 16.85 g, 1h). In the name and types of Alexander III. Kolophon mint. Struck circa 310-301 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; KA monogram in left field, Φ below throne. CNG E-308, lot 54 var. (crescent below throne), otherwise unpublished, but cf. Price 1823–4 for AR drachm and hemidrachm of this issue. Good VF, area of minor porosity and die break on reverse. Second known tetradrachm for this early period at Kolophon, unique for this issue.

The Alexander type drachms of Kolophon are among the most common Alexander type coins known. However, there are no known Alexander type tetradrachms from this mint until the time of Lysimachos. Among the other Alexander drachm mints of western Asia Minor, each did strike at least limited issues of tetradrachms, so the appearance of a tetradrachm at Kolophon during its early period of Alexander issues is not unexpected.