318, Lot: 266. Estimate $300. Sold for $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Seleukos I Nikator. As satrap, 321-315 BC. AR Drachm (16mm, 4.22 g, 4h). In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Susa mint. Struck circa 311-305 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; in left field, wreath and Boeotian shield above horned horse head left; below throne, BE above strut, TI below strut. SC 166.1; ESMS p. 35, S-6; ESM 288 and pl. XXII, 6 (same dies); Price 3867; Seleucus I Hoard 1635 (this coin); HGC 9, 27c. VF, toned, slight double strike on reverse. Very rare.

Ex 2005 Unknown Findspot (“Seleucus I”) Hoard (CH 10.265).

This coin is from one of the first issues of Seleukid coinage at Susa. While the tetradrachms of this mint under Seleukos are fairly common, the drachms are very rare. This issue was the first Seleukid issue to feature the horned horse's head which became a fairly common symbol in Seleukos' reign. While the exact identification of the steed is not certain the two prevailing theories is that it is either Alexander's famed mount Bucephalos, or the horse that carried Seleukos to safety when he fled Babylon in 315. Seleukos revered the horse, and had it deified and erected a monument to it at Antioch. The meaning of the wreath and Boeotian shield symbols are uncertain, but may refer to a victory in which the actions of Seleukid soldiers from Boeotia were prevalent.