Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 106 4-5 Sep 2018
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Thracian Kingdom. Lysimachos. Silver Tetradrachm (17.21 g), as King, 306-281 BC. Uncertain mint in Macedonia or Thrace, early posthumous issue, ca. 280 BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander the Great right, with Ammon-horn. Reverse: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΛYΣIMAΧOY, Athena seated left on throne with spiral ornament, holding Nike and resting arm on shield set behind her; leaning against her far side, a spear; in inner left field, monogram; in exergue, ΣTH. Thompson -; Müller -; CH VI (1981), fig. 3, 10; NFA XVI (1985), 114 (same obv. die); Sotheby's, Zurich (28 October 1993), 361 (same obv. die). Traces of mint luster present. SupEF. Superb Extremely Fine. Estimate Value $1,000 - 1,200
From the Lee Rousseau Collection.
The Myron hoard (IGCH 150) was probably deposited in the decade 280-270 BC. This issue possesses certain remarkable features, such as the highly distinctive style of the portrait of the Macedonian conquerer, and the unusual addition of an abbreviated name "ΣTH" in the exergue on the reverse. As this name inscribed beneath Athena is not in monogram form there would appear to be a distinct possibility that it represents a local ruler, perhaps a Thracian chieftain or king. Ptolemy Keraunos, eldest son of Ptolemy I of Egypt and half-brother of Ptolemy II, as well as the assassin of Seleukos I of Syria (the last of the Diadochoi), posed as the avenger of Lysimachos, ruling for about seventeen months in Macedonia and Thrace before perishing in a reckless attack on a band of invading Gauls.A close stylistic counterpart of the portrait on this Lysimachos issue may be recognized in the Herakles head on an Alexander-type tetradrachm which appears to come from the Amphipolis mint (cf. Price pl. XXXIII, 545). This is dated by Mathisen to 281/0 BC, i.e., the very time that Keraunos was exercising his precarious rule in the country.
From the Lee Rousseau Collection.
The Myron hoard (IGCH 150) was probably deposited in the decade 280-270 BC. This issue possesses certain remarkable features, such as the highly distinctive style of the portrait of the Macedonian conquerer, and the unusual addition of an abbreviated name "ΣTH" in the exergue on the reverse. As this name inscribed beneath Athena is not in monogram form there would appear to be a distinct possibility that it represents a local ruler, perhaps a Thracian chieftain or king. Ptolemy Keraunos, eldest son of Ptolemy I of Egypt and half-brother of Ptolemy II, as well as the assassin of Seleukos I of Syria (the last of the Diadochoi), posed as the avenger of Lysimachos, ruling for about seventeen months in Macedonia and Thrace before perishing in a reckless attack on a band of invading Gauls.A close stylistic counterpart of the portrait on this Lysimachos issue may be recognized in the Herakles head on an Alexander-type tetradrachm which appears to come from the Amphipolis mint (cf. Price pl. XXXIII, 545). This is dated by Mathisen to 281/0 BC, i.e., the very time that Keraunos was exercising his precarious rule in the country.