Exceptional “Head of Hero” Tetradrachm

Triton XX, Lot: 339. Estimate $25000. Sold for $20000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID EMPIRE. Seleukos I Nikator. 312-281 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26.5mm, 16.97 g, 5h). Susa mint. Struck circa 305/4-295 BC. Head of hero (Alexander or Seleukos?) right, wearing helmet covered with panther skin and adorned with the ear and horns of a bull / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣEΛEYKOY, Nike standing right, placing wreath on trophy; monogram to lower left, monogram in lower middle field. SC 173.4; ESMS Tr.21 var. (A18/P– [unlisted rev. die]); ESM 426 (unlisted dies); CSE 1023; SNG Spaer –; HGC 9, 20. EF, toned. Well centered and struck, among the finest known.

There is much debate concerning the identity of the hero on the obverse of this type. The most common suggestions are Alexander the Great, Seleukos, or a personification of Dionysos. See O.D. Hoover, "The Identity of the Helmeted Head on the 'Victory' Coinage of Susa," SNR 81 (2002), for the most recent treatment of this debate.