Remarkable Symbol

426, Lot: 177. Estimate $750. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

WESTERN ASIA MINOR, Uncertain. Circa 145-140 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26.5mm, 16.99 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, coiled serpent right within wreath. Price 2820A; ANS 1944.100.29611 (same obv. die); Gorny & Mosch 215, lot 789 (same dies); Nomos Obolos 10, lot 77 (same obv. die). Good VF, attractively toned. Well centered. Very rare, the fourth or fifth known (Price cites an unillustrated example in commerce, which may be one of the other three pieces).

Price dates this issue to circa 240-180 BC, but the style and fabric of this piece is a bit earlier, and unlikely to extend into the second century BC.