Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 116 1 Oct 2019
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Alexander III, 336 – 323 and posthumous issues
Distater, Amphipolis (?) circa 333-320, AV 17.20 g. Head of Athena r., wearing triple-crested Corinthian helmet; bowl decorated with coiled snake. Rev. AΛEΞANΔΡOΥ Nike standing l., holding wreath and stylis; in outer l. field, thunderbolt. Price 163a (these dies).
About extremely fine / extremely fine
Ex Ars Classica XVI, 1933, 1022; Leu/M&M, 3-4 December 1965, Niggeler part I, 223 and Ira & Larry Goldberg 62, 2011, 3051 sales.
The Athena-Nike staters of Alexander were issued in great quantities both during his lifetime and after his death, yet his distaters were never struck on anything but a modest scale. Even so, mercantile inscriptions from Amphipolis show that they were familiar enough to have earned the nickname 'big staters of Alexander' (stateres megaloi). As Hatzopoulos and Le Rider note, it is clear that those inscriptions refer to Alexander distaters, for in one case a transaction is dually recorded in the amount of 170 regular staters and 85 stateres megaloi. The date at which Alexander introduced his Athena-Nike gold coinage is still a topic of debate. The current view is that the event post-dates 333, and that these distaters may have been introduced as late as c.325 B.C. under the oversight of Antipater. The inspiration for the design of this coinage, which remained popular long after Alexander's death, has been the subject of much discussion. It would seem unlikely that the head of Athena was intended as a nod to her great city, which by then had succumbed to the will of the Macedonians; more likely it was intended to honour the divinity herself. Portraying the goddess of wisdom and war would have been well advised on the eve of the great military enterprise that Alexander had envisioned. The image of Nike holding a ship's mast generally has been seen as an allusion to a naval accomplishment. Some commentators, including Martin Price, suggest it recalls the Greek victory over the Persians at Salamis in 480 B.C. Yet, others see it as a reflection of Alexander's actions, perhaps his crossing of the Hellespont in the spring of 334 or his capture of Tyre in the summer of 332.
Distater, Amphipolis (?) circa 333-320, AV 17.20 g. Head of Athena r., wearing triple-crested Corinthian helmet; bowl decorated with coiled snake. Rev. AΛEΞANΔΡOΥ Nike standing l., holding wreath and stylis; in outer l. field, thunderbolt. Price 163a (these dies).
About extremely fine / extremely fine
Ex Ars Classica XVI, 1933, 1022; Leu/M&M, 3-4 December 1965, Niggeler part I, 223 and Ira & Larry Goldberg 62, 2011, 3051 sales.
The Athena-Nike staters of Alexander were issued in great quantities both during his lifetime and after his death, yet his distaters were never struck on anything but a modest scale. Even so, mercantile inscriptions from Amphipolis show that they were familiar enough to have earned the nickname 'big staters of Alexander' (stateres megaloi). As Hatzopoulos and Le Rider note, it is clear that those inscriptions refer to Alexander distaters, for in one case a transaction is dually recorded in the amount of 170 regular staters and 85 stateres megaloi. The date at which Alexander introduced his Athena-Nike gold coinage is still a topic of debate. The current view is that the event post-dates 333, and that these distaters may have been introduced as late as c.325 B.C. under the oversight of Antipater. The inspiration for the design of this coinage, which remained popular long after Alexander's death, has been the subject of much discussion. It would seem unlikely that the head of Athena was intended as a nod to her great city, which by then had succumbed to the will of the Macedonians; more likely it was intended to honour the divinity herself. Portraying the goddess of wisdom and war would have been well advised on the eve of the great military enterprise that Alexander had envisioned. The image of Nike holding a ship's mast generally has been seen as an allusion to a naval accomplishment. Some commentators, including Martin Price, suggest it recalls the Greek victory over the Persians at Salamis in 480 B.C. Yet, others see it as a reflection of Alexander's actions, perhaps his crossing of the Hellespont in the spring of 334 or his capture of Tyre in the summer of 332.