Extremely Rare Stater of Alexander the Molossian

Triton XIX, Lot: 110. Estimate $100000. Sold for $95000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of EPEIROS. Alexander. 350-330 BC. AV Stater (17mm, 8.53 g, 2h). Tarentum mint. Struck circa 334-332 BC. Bearded head of Zeus Dodonaios right, wearing wreath of oak leaves / AΛEΞANΔPO[Y] [T]OY NEOΠTOΛEMO[Y], horizontal thunderbolt; above, spearhead right. Vlasto, Alexander, Group C, Type 4; R. R. Holloway, “Alexander the Molossian and the Attic Standard in Magna Graecia,” in La circulazione della moneta ateniese in sicilia e in magna grecia. Atti del I convegno del centro internazionale di studi numismatici, Napoli 5-8 Aprile 1967 (Rome, 1969), pl. XI, 7 = Vlasto, Or, pl. IE, 16 = ACGC 686 = Traité IV 329 = BMC 1; Hunterian 1. Good VF, light marks in fields, a few edge bumps. Extremely rare, one of four known, and the only piece not in a public collection.

Ex J. William Middendorf II Collection (Christie’s New York, 30 November 1990), lot 42; Classical Numismatic Auctions 1 (1 May 1987), lot 46.

This coin is the only genuine stater of Alexander the Molossian to have been offered for sale over the past 75 years; the Leu 52 piece was withdrawn as a modern forgery.

Alexander the Molossian, in 334 BC, was invited by Tarentum to defend the city against the Samnites, Brettii, and Lucani of central Italy. While Alexander accepted their appeal, the true purpose for his intervention was to extend his dominion in the West just as his namesake, the king of Macedon, was establishing a great empire in the East. After initial successes, his career was abruptly terminated in 330 BC beneath the walls of Pandosia where he perished in battle against the Bruttians, much to the relief of the Tarentine Republic. Alexander honored Zeus of Dodona, the central deity of the Molossians, on his coins. The sanctuary of Zeus Naïos at Dodona was reputed to be the oldest Greek oracle, and was known to Homer.