"Signed Dies"

348, Lot: 154. Estimate $400. Sold for $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of THRACE, Macedonian. Lysimachos. 305-281 BC. AR Tetradrachm (30mm, 16.78 g, 12h). Signed obverse and reverse dies. Uncertain mint. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon; [MHNOΔ in small letters below] / Athena Nikephoros seated left, left arm resting on shield, transverse spear in background; ΣΩΣIO in small letters above knee, monogram on throne. Thompson –; Müller 564 var. (no signature noted on obv.); Meydancikkale –; Mektepini –; MG p. 55, 64; CNG E-109, lot 16 (same dies); Spink & Glendining, 3 December 1929, lot 747 (same obv. die). VF, small spots of light porosity on the obverse, a couple light scratches on reverse. Rare.

A rare signed tetradrachm of Lysimachos. With most magistrates represented by letters or monograms, the use of two partial names on this coin (Menodoros or Menodotos and Sosithos) might suggest that they are intended to be artists' signatures.