Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 449. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $2800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CARIA, Achaemenid Period. Circa 350-334 BC. AR Tetradrachm (15.07 gm, 12h). Struck circa 341-334 BC. Persian king or hero in kneeling-running stance right, drawing bow / Satrap on horseback right, thrusting spear; to left, bearded male head right. Konuk, Influences, Group 5 var. (head of Herakles); SNG Copenhagen (Persian Empire) 290-291 var. (same); Traité II 121 var. (same). Good VF, toned, minor porosity. Unpublished variety of an extremely rare type with symbol on reverse. ($3000)

Ex Gorny & Mosch 117 (14 October 2002), lot 335 (where it realized € 4200).

The archer-horseman tetradrachms are one of the most enigmatic Persian coinages struck in Asia Minor prior to the invasion of Alexander the Great. Though various symbols and letters occur in the fields, no inscription exists to help us identify the issuer, mint, or purpose of issue. Konuk, however, identified two series, with and without subsidiary symbols on the reverse. Also, analysis of the Pixodarus Hoard has allowed the coinage to be dated from the decade beginning circa 350 BC. Additionally, as only the earlier, non-symbol, type is represented, Meadows concluded that the date of deposit of the hoard, 341 BC, served as a tentative divider between the two series.