SELEUKID EMPIRE. Seleukos I Nikator. 312-281 B.C. AR tetradrachm. 17.17 gm. 24 mm. In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Babylon I mint. Struck circa 311-300 B.C. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; MI above head of lion in left field, monogram within wreath below throne. SC 82.3c. Price 3759. HGC 9, 10f. Near Extremely Fine; light attractive tone over fresh surfaces, with underlying luster.

Ex CNG eAuction 422 (13 June 2018) lot 277 (Colin E. Pitchfork Collection). Ex CNG 61 (25 September 2002) lot 476.

"The Seleukid Empire was the largest of the successor states carved from the short-lived empire of Alexander the Great, and arguably the most culturally diverse. Over nearly two and a half centuries it produced an astonishing volume and variety of coinage...from mints scattered across its vast expanse." (Seleucid Coins: A Comprehensive Catalogue, Volume I, by Arthur Houghton and Catharine Lorber with Brian Kritt.) Lots 41-48 continue our offering of Seleukid coins begun in our last sale, with all but one (45) from the same collection. Included are a handful of tetradrachms from several different mints of Seleukos I, who founded the Seleukid dynasty which ruled until Pompey made Syria a Roman province in 63 B.C. It concludes with a handsome portrait tetradrachm of his son and successor, Antiochos I Soter (48).