CNG 102, Lot: 651. Estimate $300. Sold for $320. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

UNCERTAIN EAST. 3rd-2nd centuries BC. AR Tetradrachm (27mm, 15.14 g, 12h). In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; in left field, two dolphins entwined downward toward wreath. Cf. Price 4038 = Hersh (now BM no. 2002,0101.997 -- same obv. die, different symbol), and CNG E-357, lot 174 (Price B36 -- same obv. die, different symbol). Near EF, toned.

From the estate of Thomas Bentley Cederlind. Ex New York Sale XXXIV (6 January 2015), lot 90 (hammer $400); Gorny & Mosch 142 (10 October 2005), lot 1365.

The present coin is part of a series featuring an unusual obverse style and light weight (averaging between 15.5 and 16.5 grams), as well as a variety of symbols in the left field on the reverse: lion-skin over club [Price 4058], dolphin downward [Price 4058A (cf. Lanz 161, lot 15)], wreath [Price B36], two dolphins entwined over wreath [present coin], and thunderbolt [CNG 90, lot 752, and Rauch Summer Auction 2010, lot 54]. While the light weight and style suggest an origin among the eastern Celts, the consistency of the style and good epigraphy suggests a more formally organized mint, unlike definitively Celtic issues that copy Alexanders.