Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3042 17-18 Sep 2015
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Ancients
MACEDONIAN KINGDOM. Perseus (179-168 BC). AR tetradrachm (32mm, 16.77 gm, 11h). Attic-weight issue, Pella or Amphipolis, 179-173 BC. Diademed head of Perseus right, with close beard / ΒΑΣΙ-ΛΕΩΣ ΠΕP-ΣΕΩΣ, eagle with spread wings standing right on thunderbolt; IΩ monogram above, YE monogram below, and in ME monogram in right field; all within oak wreath; below, plow right. Mamroth 4. Gulbenkian 887. SNG Copenhagen 1267. Deeply struck on a broad flan and beautifully toned. With an outstanding portrait of fine style. NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 5/5, Fine Style.The last independent king of Macedon, Perseus inherited the throne from his father Philip V after the latter had his pro-Roman son Demetrius executed. Thus the tone was set from the outset of his reign for an eventual clash which proved fatal to the Antigonid monarchy and Macedonian independence. Perseus skilfully rebuilt the Macedonian army and a network of marriage alliances during the first years of his reign, which the Romans watched with rising alarm. The Third Macedonian War broke out in 171 BC, and for a time Perseus employed guerrilla tactics which gave him the initiative and kept the Romans on their heels. Like his father, though, he chose to risk all in a single pitched battle at Pydna and lost badly to the Roman general Lucius Aemilius Paullus. Perseus surrendered and was allowed to live out his life in comfortable captivity in Rome; the Macedonian Kingdom was divided into four theoretically autonomous Republics which were soon subsumed into direct Roman rule. The coinage of Perseus is one of the more attractive of the Hellenistic series.
Estimate: 2500-3500 USD
MACEDONIAN KINGDOM. Perseus (179-168 BC). AR tetradrachm (32mm, 16.77 gm, 11h). Attic-weight issue, Pella or Amphipolis, 179-173 BC. Diademed head of Perseus right, with close beard / ΒΑΣΙ-ΛΕΩΣ ΠΕP-ΣΕΩΣ, eagle with spread wings standing right on thunderbolt; IΩ monogram above, YE monogram below, and in ME monogram in right field; all within oak wreath; below, plow right. Mamroth 4. Gulbenkian 887. SNG Copenhagen 1267. Deeply struck on a broad flan and beautifully toned. With an outstanding portrait of fine style. NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 5/5, Fine Style.The last independent king of Macedon, Perseus inherited the throne from his father Philip V after the latter had his pro-Roman son Demetrius executed. Thus the tone was set from the outset of his reign for an eventual clash which proved fatal to the Antigonid monarchy and Macedonian independence. Perseus skilfully rebuilt the Macedonian army and a network of marriage alliances during the first years of his reign, which the Romans watched with rising alarm. The Third Macedonian War broke out in 171 BC, and for a time Perseus employed guerrilla tactics which gave him the initiative and kept the Romans on their heels. Like his father, though, he chose to risk all in a single pitched battle at Pydna and lost badly to the Roman general Lucius Aemilius Paullus. Perseus surrendered and was allowed to live out his life in comfortable captivity in Rome; the Macedonian Kingdom was divided into four theoretically autonomous Republics which were soon subsumed into direct Roman rule. The coinage of Perseus is one of the more attractive of the Hellenistic series.
Estimate: 2500-3500 USD