Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 651. Estimate $4000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $3200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TROAS, Ilion. Circa 188-133 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.81 gm). Euboulidos, "magistrate." Head of Athena right, wearing laureate and triple-crested Attic helmet / AQHNAS ILIADOS, Athena Ilias standing right, wearing polos and chiton, holding distaff in left hand, filleted spear over right shoulder, owl standing right at her feet; monogram above caduceus in inner left field, EUBOULIDOU in exergue. Bellinger, Troy T49; Bellinger, "The First Civic Tetradrachms of Ilium," ANSMN VIII (1958), 14; BMC Troas -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -. Good VF, lightly toned, choice flan, well centered, a few small spots of encrustation. Very rare, and only one other specimen known with these symbols and "magistrate" (in the ANS). ($4000)

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection.

Founded in the seventh century BC by Aeolians on the site of ancient Troy, Ilion prospered and ultimately developed into a successful Hellenistic and Roman city. It possessed a famous temple of Athena (‘Ilias’) which was visited by King Xerxes of Persia and later by Alexander the Great. The Romans always had a high regard for Ilion because of the legend of Aeneas and the tradition that Rome's founders were of Trojan origin. With the collapse of Seleukid authority in Asia Minor in 189 BC, Ilion, in common with many other communities of western Asia Minor, celebrated its liberation from regal authority by issuing large and impressive tetradrachms. These honor the goddess Athena Ilias, whose helmeted head appears as the obverse type, while the reverse features her standing figure, probably the statue which stood within the sanctuary. The series extended down to the first century BC, the later issues being on smaller and thicker flans. The names appearing on these issues are not technically magistrates, but wealty and influential citizens who financed the coinage from their own monies in return for recognition on the coins (see Bellinger, ANSMN VIII, pg. 23-24).