Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 547. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $1350. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochos VII Sidetes. 138-129 BC. AR Tetradrachm (15.93 gm, 12h). Mallos mint. Diademed head right; M/A behind / BASILEWS ANTIOCOU EUERGETOU, cult statue of Athena Magarasia facing, arms outstretched, holding spear tied with fillet in right hand; star over each shoulder; monogram to left of feet, AS to right of feet. SNG Spaer -; Houghton, "The Seleucid Mint of Mallus and the Cult Figure of Athena Magarsia," Studies Mildenberg, 13-14 var. (A2/P-, reverse die not recorded); Houghton 507 var. (monograms). Good VF, light roughness on reverse. Very rare. ($1000)

The Temple of Athena at Magarsos, near Mallos, was an important cultic sanctuary in the Hellenistic period. The central statue of Athena Magarsia is known only from the handful of coins that have survived, and which show a blending of Greek and eastern motifs.