Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 104 12-13 Jun 2018
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Seleukid Kingdom, Alexander I Balas, 150-155 BC. Silver Didrachm (6.99g). Tyre, dated SE 163 (150-149 BC). Diademed bust of Alexander I right. Reverse: BA[ΣILEΩΣ] AΛEΞANΔPOY, Eagle standing left on prow of ship, TY monogram cojoined with club before, date ΓΞP over AC in right field. SC 1836.1. HGC 9, 885. Very rare. Very slight reverse doubling, otherwise deeply struck in sound metal, with a marvelous high-relief portrait and lustrous, lightly toned surfaces. An incredible coin! Mint State. Estimate Value $4,000 - UP
Ex Stacks Bowers New York, 6 January 2012, lot 297 (realized $4,250 hammer).
By 152 BC, the Seleukid king Demetrios I had alientated his supporters both at home and abroad with a series of bungled foreign interventions. A young man named Alexander of Smyrna, who claimed to be an illigitimate son of Antiochos IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC), was advanced by both the Pergemene Kingdom and the Romans as the legitimate successor to the Seleukid throne, and finally defeated and slew Demetrios I after a two-year civil war in Syria. His position was cemented by a spectacular dynastic wedding to Cleopatra Thea, daughter of Ptolemy VI of Egypt. The promising start soon deteriorated as it became clear Alexander had no talent for ruling, and his regime came to grief with another messy civil war in 145 BC. His coinage includes many interesting types, including this attractive and rare didrachm of Tyre, dated to the first year of his sole reign.
Ex Stacks Bowers New York, 6 January 2012, lot 297 (realized $4,250 hammer).
By 152 BC, the Seleukid king Demetrios I had alientated his supporters both at home and abroad with a series of bungled foreign interventions. A young man named Alexander of Smyrna, who claimed to be an illigitimate son of Antiochos IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC), was advanced by both the Pergemene Kingdom and the Romans as the legitimate successor to the Seleukid throne, and finally defeated and slew Demetrios I after a two-year civil war in Syria. His position was cemented by a spectacular dynastic wedding to Cleopatra Thea, daughter of Ptolemy VI of Egypt. The promising start soon deteriorated as it became clear Alexander had no talent for ruling, and his regime came to grief with another messy civil war in 145 BC. His coinage includes many interesting types, including this attractive and rare didrachm of Tyre, dated to the first year of his sole reign.