Gemini III, January 9th, 2007Lot # 98Estimate: US$2000
MACEDONIAN KINGDOM. Alexander III The Great. Silver 
tetradrachm        MACEDONIAN KINGDOM. Alexander III The Great. (336-323 BC). Silver 
            tetradrachm (17.08 gm). Western Asia Minor, probably Mytilene, Ca. 
            300–280 BC. Head of young Heracles right in lion skin headdress / 
            AËEÎANÄÑOÕ, Zeus enthroned left, holding eagle on extended right 
            hand and resting left on lotus scepter, bearded serpent left in left 
            field. Unpublished. For style, see Price 1697a, pl. lvii. Cf. also 
            Bodenstedt 96, an electrum hecte of Mytilene showing the same 
            bearded serpent. With an incredible portrait of Alexander. Mint 
            state. 

            The bearded serpent was a symbol of Zeus Meilichios (the Gentle). It 
            does not otherwise appear on tetradrachms of Mytilene. The proposed 
            attribution to Mytilene is based on stylistic comparison with Price 
            1697a. Points of similarity include the treatment of Alexander’s 
            hair above his forehead (bangs rather than the anastole); the 
            long-nosed profile; the shape of the headdress, including a small 
            lion’s ear and the folds at the neck; an obverse border composed of 
            dashes rather than dots; Zeus’s sandals; and a throne strut composed 
            of four pellets. There are also a few elements that are not present 
            on Price 1697a: our coin has a faint linear border inside the dashes 
            on the obverse; a border of dashes on the reverse; and large balls 
            at the bottom of the throne legs. For another tetradrachm of very 
            similar style, perhaps an issue of the same mint, see Price 1874 = 
            Newell, Demetrius Poliorcetes, pl. vi, 8; Newell attributed this 
            issue to Ephesus, but Price expressed reservations. 


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  ... Lot 98 sold for high bid of $4000 [ $4600, or approx 3555.8 EUR, 2346 GBP including the 15% buyers fee.] 


Re-used by permission of Harlan J Berk (www.harlanjberk.com) and
       Freeman & Sear (www.freemanandsear.com)