Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3045 12-13 January 2016
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PERGAMENE KINGDOM. Philetaerus (282-263 BC). AR tetradrachm (16.52 gm). Pergamum, 269-263 BC. Diademed head of Philetaerus right / Athena seated left, resting elbow on small sphinx, holding shield and transverse spear; monogram on throne, ivy leaf to inner left, and bow to right. SNG France (Eumenes I) 1606–9. Rare! Some surface deposits and areas of porosity, mainly on reverse. NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 2/5, Fine Style.This type is usually attributed to Eumenes I (263-241 BC), but recent scholarship favors reattribution to the Pergamene Kingdom's founding reign. Philetaerus played a canny game of power poker in the years following the death of Alexander the Great. Entrusted with an immense treasure in the fortress city of Pergamum by Lysimachus of Thrace, Philetaerus soon switched his allegiance to Lysimachus' rival Seleucus I in return for a promise of autonomy within his own realm. Seleucus defeated and killed Lysimachus at Kauropedion in 281 BC, but was assassinated himself soon thereafter. The Pergamene Kingdom, however, officially broke from the Seleucid realm only a few years later, and the kingdom's coinage honored its founder Philetaerus on its coinage for several reigns thereafter.
Estimate: 500-700 USD
PERGAMENE KINGDOM. Philetaerus (282-263 BC). AR tetradrachm (16.52 gm). Pergamum, 269-263 BC. Diademed head of Philetaerus right / Athena seated left, resting elbow on small sphinx, holding shield and transverse spear; monogram on throne, ivy leaf to inner left, and bow to right. SNG France (Eumenes I) 1606–9. Rare! Some surface deposits and areas of porosity, mainly on reverse. NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 2/5, Fine Style.This type is usually attributed to Eumenes I (263-241 BC), but recent scholarship favors reattribution to the Pergamene Kingdom's founding reign. Philetaerus played a canny game of power poker in the years following the death of Alexander the Great. Entrusted with an immense treasure in the fortress city of Pergamum by Lysimachus of Thrace, Philetaerus soon switched his allegiance to Lysimachus' rival Seleucus I in return for a promise of autonomy within his own realm. Seleucus defeated and killed Lysimachus at Kauropedion in 281 BC, but was assassinated himself soon thereafter. The Pergamene Kingdom, however, officially broke from the Seleucid realm only a few years later, and the kingdom's coinage honored its founder Philetaerus on its coinage for several reigns thereafter.
Estimate: 500-700 USD