CNG 100, Lot: 1323. Estimate $2500. Sold for $2500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. temp. Alexander III – Seleukos I. Circa 324/3-300 BC. AV Stater (17mm, 8.55 g, 4h). In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Uncertain mint in the East. Head of Athena right, wearing triple-crested Corinthian helmet adorned with a serpent, single pendant earring, and necklace / BAΣIΛ[EΩΣ] AΛEΞANΔPOY, Nike standing left, holding wreath in extended right hand, cradling stylis in left arm; below right wing; eagle standing right, head left, on thunderbolt. Unpublished. VF, flan flaw and bump on obverse, scrape and a couple light marks on reverse. Extremely rare.

The appearance of the royal title and the general style place this issue in the East, probably after Alexander’s death. The eagle is directly reminiscent of the early “eagle coinage” of Alexander, but these issues likely ended well before the royal title was added to the coins, and were only produced at a mint in Macedon and probably Miletos. The eagle is a common symbol on staters of western Asia Minor (previously Salamis), but on those issues, the eagle is not looking back, nor is it standing on a thunderbolt. The symbol may have a Ptolemaic connection, as a similar eagle-on-thunderbolt is common on the satrapal tetradrachms of Ptolemy I. At the same time, this stater is probably not an issue of Memphis or Alexandreia, whose abundant Alexander-type staters were never inscribed with the royal title. Thus, if it is Ptolemaic, it must be an issue from one of their possessions in southern Asia Minor or the Levant.