Unique Oktadrachm

CNG 103, Lot: 358. Estimate $50000. Sold for $65000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID EMPIRE. Antiochos III ‘the Great’. 222-187 BC. AV Oktadrachm (29mm, 34.07 g, 9h). Uncertain mint 68 in northern Mesopotamia. Struck circa 197-192/0 BC. Diademed head right / [B]AΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOY, Apollo Delphios seated left on omphalos, testing arrow in his right hand and holding bow in his left; monogram to outer left. Unpublished, but cf. illustration of SC 1132.3b for a tetradrachm struck from the same obverse die. VF, a few marks, reverse off center. Unique.

Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 64 (17 May 2012), lot 849.

Seleukid oktadrachms were all ad-hoc issues, presumably produced for presentation purposes or as donatives. The present piece is no exception, as it was struck with an obverse die that was used to strike tetradrachms in an issue given to Uncertain Mint 68 in Mesopotamia in SC (cf. illustration of SC 1132.3b). The dating of the issue is based on the portrait style, which the authors of SC date circa 197-192/0 BC. The appearance of this oktradrachm suggests that this mint may have been a place of some importance, but the historical circumstances are uncertain, as Antiochos was primarily involved in a conflict against the Ptolemies in Asia Minor. Perhaps this issue reflects some as yet unknown event to the east, as previously known issues of oktadrachms of Antiochos III have been linked to various military victories.