Watch List notes:

Aitolia, Aitolian League, silver tetradrachm, 238-228 BC, head of Herakles right wearing lion-skin headdress, rev., ΑΙΤΩΛΩΝ, Aitolos seated right on Macedonian shield which rests on three Gallic shields and a carnyx, holding spear and sword; in right field, monogram and ZΗ, 16.89g, die axis 12.00, finely toned, extremely fine and rare. This coin published: de Nanteuil 879; Tsangari, D.I., Corpus des monnaies d'or, d'argent et de bronze de la Confederation Étolienne, Athens, 2007, 464f. Other References: Boston supplement 90, same dies; Prospero 348, same dies; Scheu, F., Coinage Systems of Aetolia, NC 1960, monogram 1. Provenance: Merzbacher sale, 1910, lot 446; H. de Nanteuil Collection, Paris; Münzen und Medaillen 72, 1987, lot 590; with Tradart, Zurich, 1990; The Bru Sale, Auction 3, Brussels, 6 May 2011, lot 34. Note: The Gallic arms on which Aitolos sits allude to the Aitolian League's part in the defeat of the Celtic invasion of Greece in 279 BC when the sanctuary of Delphi was threatened; and the Macedonian shield is a reference to the League's general opposition to the expansion of Macedonia or more specifically to an Aitolian victory over the Macedonians in 314 BC. Yet it is ironic that the obverse of this coinage bears the head of Herakles so obviously copied from the coins of Alexander the Great. (4000 - 6000 GBP)