Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 604. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Seleukos I. 312-280 BC. AR Drachm (3.88 gm). Carrhae(?) mint. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion's skin headdress / BASILEWS left, [SELEUKOU] right, Zeus seated left, holding eagle and sceptre; no symbols. Cf. SC 43 (Tetradrachm); cf. Newell, WSM 777 (Tetradrachm). Superb EF, exceptional style. Apparently unpublished as a drachm. ($300)

Ex Italo Vecchi 16 (9 October 1999), lot 116.

Although the name is off the flan, the anomalous orientation of the royal title is unknown on any other Alexander-type tetradrachm or drachm, save for the tetradrachm of Seleukos I attributed (tentatively) to Carrhae. In addition to the orientation of the royal title our coin shares similar features which are salient for the tetradrachm: the backless throne, the absence of any control marks, and a faint dotted reverse border. Houghton speculates that it is possible that the obverse die of the tetradrachm (die-linked to certain Carrhae tetradrachms) was transferred to a new mint, as the reverse is so stylistically different. The discovery of this drachm lends credence to this possibility, as the obverse style is different from that typically found on drachms at Carrhae.