Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3067 6-7 Sep 2018
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Ancients
SICYONIA. Sicyon. Ca. 225-215 BC. AR tetradrachm (28mm, 16.96 gm, 5h). NGC Choice XF 4/5 - 4/5. Posthumous issue in the name and type of Alexander III the Great of Macedon, Social War Issue, ca. 225-215 BC. Head of Heracles right, wearing lion-skin headdress, paws tied before neck / AΛEΞANΔPOY, Zeus enthroned left, right leg drawn back, feet on ground line, eagle in right hand, scepter in left; tripod in right field, TM monogram below throne. cf. Price 725.
The style of this coin is clearly Sicyonian and the TM monogram matches Price 725, however the series device of a boy with taenia left in the left field has clearly been removed from the die. The die was still fresh, and thus the mintmaster wanted to still put it into production, so the new series mark of the tripod was added, but in the right field since the left field already had so much work done to it. The conundrum being that Sicyonia never used a tripod on their tetradrachms, but Corinth did, as well as Messene, who entered the Achaean League in 191 BC. The Social War Issues were produced under the Achaean League in part of the alliance against the many invasions that were threatening to bring it to collapse. The strategos of the Achaean League was Aratos, a native of Sicyon and his city was at times used as the headquarters for the League. It is tempting to conclude this reverse die was completed near the end of the war and afterward was sent to another mint. Price doesn't list any issues from any mint with a tripod in the right field and Sicyon was the only mint to use the TM monogram under the throne, leaving this coin somewhat of a mystery and otherwise currently unpublished.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 500-700 USD
SICYONIA. Sicyon. Ca. 225-215 BC. AR tetradrachm (28mm, 16.96 gm, 5h). NGC Choice XF 4/5 - 4/5. Posthumous issue in the name and type of Alexander III the Great of Macedon, Social War Issue, ca. 225-215 BC. Head of Heracles right, wearing lion-skin headdress, paws tied before neck / AΛEΞANΔPOY, Zeus enthroned left, right leg drawn back, feet on ground line, eagle in right hand, scepter in left; tripod in right field, TM monogram below throne. cf. Price 725.
The style of this coin is clearly Sicyonian and the TM monogram matches Price 725, however the series device of a boy with taenia left in the left field has clearly been removed from the die. The die was still fresh, and thus the mintmaster wanted to still put it into production, so the new series mark of the tripod was added, but in the right field since the left field already had so much work done to it. The conundrum being that Sicyonia never used a tripod on their tetradrachms, but Corinth did, as well as Messene, who entered the Achaean League in 191 BC. The Social War Issues were produced under the Achaean League in part of the alliance against the many invasions that were threatening to bring it to collapse. The strategos of the Achaean League was Aratos, a native of Sicyon and his city was at times used as the headquarters for the League. It is tempting to conclude this reverse die was completed near the end of the war and afterward was sent to another mint. Price doesn't list any issues from any mint with a tripod in the right field and Sicyon was the only mint to use the TM monogram under the throne, leaving this coin somewhat of a mystery and otherwise currently unpublished.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 500-700 USD