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Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVII  28 Mar 2019
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Lot 563

Estimate: 1000 GBP
Price realized: 800 GBP
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Seleukid Empire, Antiochos I Soter, with Seleukos I Nikator, AR Hemidrachm. Coregency issue. Drangiana, circa 294-281 BC. Head of hero right, assimilating Seleukos, Alexander and Dionysos, wearing helmet covered with panther skin and adorned with bull's ears and horns, lion skin tied around neck / Nike standing left, crowning trophy; ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to left, ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ to right, A between Nike and trophy. SC 227a (hemidrachm); Houghton, SNR 59, p. 12, 12. 2.17g, 13mm, 10h.

Near Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; no other examples in CoinArchives.

From the inventory of a German dealer, privately purchased from Pars Coins, San Jose CA.

The silver Nike-trophy type coinage in the name of Antiochos are attributed to the period of coregency with his father Seleukos, and their mint is believed to be in the satrapy of Drangiana. Houghton and Lorber (SC, pp. 88-89) contend that this issue "is evidence that Seleukid authority was still recognised in Drangiana after the treaty with Chandragupta (c. 305)... the controls of this trophy coinage cannot be accounted for as mere imitations, but seem to attest to the operation of an official mint." During the coregency, Antiochos governed the eastern parts of the empire, pursuing a policy of colonisation and the improvement of existing cities. Hence, an issue taking as its prototype the Susa Nike-Trophy type of Seleukos is most plausibly attributed to the coregency period than the years after the death of Seleukos, when Antiochos was occupied in the west.
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