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Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 539  31 May 2023
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Lot 260

Estimate: 150 USD
Price realized: 425 USD
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ASIA MINOR, Uncertain eastern mint. 3rd-2nd centuries BC. AR Tetradrachm (27mm, 15.81 g, 12h). In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; X-within-wreath in left field, X below throne. Heintges 8; otherwise, unpublished. Lightly toned, hairline flan crack, minor porosity. In NGC encapsulation 6556050-003, graded Good VF, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 2/5, edge scuff.

The present coin is part of a series featuring an unusual obverse style and light weight (averaging between 15.5 and 16.5 grams), as well as a variety of symbols in the left field on the reverse: lion-skin over club [Price 4058], dolphin downward [Price 4058A (cf. Lanz 161, lot 15)], wreath [Price B36], two dolphins entwined over wreath [CNG 102, 651], thunderbolt [CNG 90, lot 752, and Rauch Summer Auction 2010, lot 54], and kerykeion-like device [CNG E-397, lot 220]. These issues sometimes also feature an X below the throne [Price B4]. While the light weight and style suggest an origin among the eastern Celts, the consistency of the style and metrology, as well as the good epigraphy suggests a more formally organized mint, unlike definitively Celtic issues that copy Alexanders.
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