Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 256. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CARIA. Achaemenid Period. Circa 350-341 BC. AR Tetradrachm (15.39 gm). Persian king or hero in kneeling-running stance right, drawing bow / Satrap on horseback, thrusting spear. Cf. SNG Kayhan 1004; Traite pl. XCI, 16; cf. SNG Copenhagen 290 (Persian Empire); Pixodarus pg. 210, 24 (this coin); Dewing 2715. Toned, good VF, strike just a touch soft. Scarce. ($1500)

Ex Pixodarus Hoard.

STORY FOR BOTH LOTS Among the Persian coinages struck in Greek Asia prior to the invasion of Alexander the Great, one of the most difficult to define are these archer-horseman tetradrachms, generally attributed to Caria or Ionia. The obverse derives from the standard archer hero-king, which occurs in various forms on the gold darics and silver sigloi comprising the Imperial coinages of the Persian kings. In this case the hero-king is modified from the standard type (at the time) in that he is shown drawing the bow rather than holding it with his left hand and holding a spear with his right hand. The reverse is inventive in that it shows a Persian satrap or king on horseback, raising a spear, which he prepares to throw.

Though various symbols and letters occur in the fields, no inscription exists to helps us identify the issuer, the mint, or even the purpose of issue. Fortunately, hoard evidence (most recently the Pixodarus Hoard) has allowed the series to be dated to the decade beginning circa 350 B.C. The archer-horseman tetradrachms, however, may not be one cohesive issue. One of the strongest arguments on this point is illustrated by the two examples offered here: the first has a planchet typical of a Greek Asiatic mint with rounded, uniform edges, whereas the second has more squared edges with a pair of “sprues” at opposite ends of the planchet, indicative of its having been struck on a cast planchet with its circular seam aligned vertically in relation to the dies. This method of production can be observed on various Greek coinages, but it is most familiar on Syracusan tetradrachms of the Archaic and Classical periods.