Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 480 11 Nov 2020
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
KINGS of THRACE, Macedonian. Lysimachos. As Satrap, 323-305 BC. AR Tetrobol (14.5mm, 2.38 g, 1h). In the name and types of Philip II of Macedon. Amphipolis mint. Head of Apollo right, wearing tainia / Nude youth on horseback right; below, ΛY above forepart of lion right; in exergue, grain ear right. Cf. Thompson 1 (exergue controls not noted); cf. Price P5A (same); Müller –; HGC 3, 1744 corr. (same). Toned, some roughness, double struck on reverse. VF. The earliest issue of Lysimachos's coinage. Very rare with grain ear in exergue, unpublished in the standard references, and this is the only example in CoinArchives.
From the BRN Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 291 (21 November 2012), lot 22.
Struck from the same obverse die as the following lot, marking the transition from the issues in the name of Philip to those solely in the name of Lysimachos.
Although these coins have traditionally been attributed to the beginning of Lysimachos' reign as king of Thrace, more recent scholarship has persuasively placed them early in the period of his satrapy. Price, in his study of the coinage of Alexander the Great and Philip III, discounts the prior dating (circa 306/5 BC) and mint attribution (Lysimacheia), and argues for an issue placed at Amphipolis, circa 320-315 BC. During this time, Lysimachos was constantly waging war against the Thracian tribes and likely needed coinage for troop payments. The only source for him, at that time, would be his close friend Kassander, who controlled the mint at Amphipolis. This placement and dating conform well to the current scholarship regarding the minting of Philip II-type tetrobols (or fifth tetradrachms). For further background, see, e.g.: Price, pp. 130 and 197; AMNG III, p. 171; and H. Lund, Lysimachus: A Study in Early Hellenistic Kingship (Routledge, 1992), p. 57.
From the BRN Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 291 (21 November 2012), lot 22.
Struck from the same obverse die as the following lot, marking the transition from the issues in the name of Philip to those solely in the name of Lysimachos.
Although these coins have traditionally been attributed to the beginning of Lysimachos' reign as king of Thrace, more recent scholarship has persuasively placed them early in the period of his satrapy. Price, in his study of the coinage of Alexander the Great and Philip III, discounts the prior dating (circa 306/5 BC) and mint attribution (Lysimacheia), and argues for an issue placed at Amphipolis, circa 320-315 BC. During this time, Lysimachos was constantly waging war against the Thracian tribes and likely needed coinage for troop payments. The only source for him, at that time, would be his close friend Kassander, who controlled the mint at Amphipolis. This placement and dating conform well to the current scholarship regarding the minting of Philip II-type tetrobols (or fifth tetradrachms). For further background, see, e.g.: Price, pp. 130 and 197; AMNG III, p. 171; and H. Lund, Lysimachus: A Study in Early Hellenistic Kingship (Routledge, 1992), p. 57.