Search in eAuction


CNG Bidding Platform

Information

Products and Services


Use Old Home Page

eAuction
Electronic Auction 490

Lot nuber 636

KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander III 'the Great'. 336-323 BC. AR Tetradrachm (25.5mm, 16.16 g, 12h). Babylon mint. Struck under Stamenes or Archon, circa 323 BC.


Electronic Auction 490
Lot: 636.
 Estimated: $ 150

Greek, Silver

Sold For $ 550. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander III 'the Great'. 336-323 BC. AR Tetradrachm (25.5mm, 16.16 g, 12h). Babylon mint. Struck under Stamenes or Archon, circa 323 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; in left field, vertical anchor [engraved in die over grape bunch] above M; monogram below throne. Price 3684 (same obv. die as illustration); Waggoner dies 88/b; Berlin obj. no. 18251733 (same dies); cf. ANS 1944.100.80579 var. (same obv. die, different symbol). Toned, patches of porosity and roughness, heavy cleaning scratches. VF.

This coin is extraordinary in that the Seleukid anchor was engraved in an old die from the end of Alexander’s lifetime, which was then reused for striking tetradrachms. Although the original issue was circa 323 BC, the anchor did not appear as a symbol on Seleukid tetradrachms until his second satrapy, over a decade later. The Seleukid anchor was a canonical symbol on the earliest tetradrachms of Seleukos I at the Babylon II mint during his second satrapy. It is possible that the mint needed to strike coinage before new dies could be produced, and simply re-engraved the new dynastic symbol in some old dies that could be used while new ones were being prepared. Alternatively, this may have been an issue struck by Seleukos while he was expelled from Babylonia by Antigonos I. Seleukos may have taken the dies when he fled Babylon, and simply re-engraved his symbol in the die to strike an expedient issue while on the run. Of interesting note, when the die was re-engraved with the anchor, it must have been in a somewhat deteriorated state such that the engraver also touched-up other details, like the scepter of Zeus, where the staff was changed from a pelleted to linear form.

Closing Date and Time: 21 April 2021 at 13:31:40 ET.

All winning bids are subject to an 18% buyer’s fee.