Unique and Unpublished Quarter Stater

CNG 108, Lot: 64. Estimate $1000. Sold for $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander III ‘the Great’. 336-323 BC. AV Quarter Stater (9.5mm, 2.16 g, 11h). Abydos mint. Struck under Kalas or Demarchos, circa 325-323 BC. Helmeted head of Athena right / Bow and club; above, male figure standing left. Unpublished, but cf. Price 1496–1501 for the multi-denominational series that would include this issue. Good VF. Unique.

This is the first gold quarter stater known for the mint of Abydos, and is part of the first issue of coinage there. Bow and club quarter staters are very rare, and were previously only known from the mints of Amphipolis, Lampsakos, and Salamis. These quarter staters were apparently engraved with the bow and club oriented horizontally in the field. The legend and symbols, obviously added afterward, are typically oriented in relation to the bow and club, but some symbols, as here, are too large, and are therefore engraved in a different orientation. Another aberration is Price 169A, where the legend was engraved upside-down, while the symbol, a kantharos, was oriented correctly.