Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Triton XVII Sessions 1 & 2 7 January 2014
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WESTERN BLACK SEA REGION, Uncertain. Circa 275/50-225 BC. AR Tetradrachm (30mm, 16.60 g, 12h). In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Head of Herakles left, wearing lion skin / BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΛEΞANΔPOY, Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; grape bunch in left field, MH monogram in exergue. Unpublished. Good VF, toned. Fine style.
While most Black Sea issues with grapes are assigned to Dionysopolis, those issues exhibit a fairly consistent style. This piece does not conform to that style, and Price was reluctant to place some issues with grapes at Dionysopolis, opting instead to assign them to an uncertain mint along the Black Sea (Price 1324–6). Such an attribution is likewise appropriate for this coin.
The obverse style on many issues from the mints in this region is so similar as to suggest that either an itinerant engraver travelled among the mints, or else a central mint struck coins for all the cities. The present coin has an identical obverse style to issues at Kalchedon (cf. Black Sea Hoard 52–67) and Mesembria (cf. lot 96, below).
While most Black Sea issues with grapes are assigned to Dionysopolis, those issues exhibit a fairly consistent style. This piece does not conform to that style, and Price was reluctant to place some issues with grapes at Dionysopolis, opting instead to assign them to an uncertain mint along the Black Sea (Price 1324–6). Such an attribution is likewise appropriate for this coin.
The obverse style on many issues from the mints in this region is so similar as to suggest that either an itinerant engraver travelled among the mints, or else a central mint struck coins for all the cities. The present coin has an identical obverse style to issues at Kalchedon (cf. Black Sea Hoard 52–67) and Mesembria (cf. lot 96, below).