Triton XXII, Lot: 185. Estimate $15000. Sold for $16000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander I. 498-454 BC. AR Oktadrachm (30.5mm, 28.43 g). Struck circa 492-480/79 BC. Horseman, wearing chlamys and petasos, and holding two spears, standing right behind horse advancing right / Quadripartite incuse square. Raymond pl. II, 4; AMNG III p. 49, 7 (Bisaltai); HPM pl. XII, 2 (Bisaltai); SNG ANS 1; Athena Fund I 21 (same obv. die); Boston MFA 617 (Bisaltai); Gillet 739; Pozzi 696 = Rhousopoulos 1006 (Bisaltai). EF, attractive cabinet tone.

Ex Osaka Collection, assembled prior to 2000.

This coin type had long been ascribed to the Bisaltai, one of the powerful Thraco-Macedonian tribes that struck coinage in the late 6th and early 5th centuries. The weight of the evidence now points to it being the earliest issue of Alexander I, when he was allied with the tribes against the Persians; he presumably struck coins with types that were acceptable to his allies and would, in fact, symbolize their alliance.