Watch List notes:

JDL Collection Part II: Geek Coins
ASIA. IONIA.

SMYRNA, Tetradrachm after 190, Attic standard, AR 16.92 g.

Obv. Turreted head of Cybele right, long hair in three braids, the one in the centre tied up in a bun, the two others falling down her neck.
Rev. ΣΜΥΡ/ΝΑΙℵ?Ν and monogram ; all within oak- wreath.
Literature
BMC Ionia 237, 3, pl. XXV, 5 (these dies)
SNG von Aulock - cf. 2161–2 (different monogram)
J. G. Milne, "The Silver Coinage of Smyrna", NC 1914, 1a, pl. XVI, A (this obverse die)
M.-M. Bendenoun, Coins of the Ancient World, A portrait of the JDL Collection, Tradart, Genève, 2009, 26 (this coin)
Condition
An impressive portrait struck in high relief, beautifully toned and good extremely fine.

Provenance
Giessener Münzhandlung Dieter Gorny Gmbh 89, München 1998, lot 212.
In the 3rd and 2nd Centuries B.C. a variety of silver coins were struck at Smyrna, which collectively reflected how effectively this new, yet prosperous settlement navigated the waters of regional politics. Lysimachus initiated coinage at Smyrna with an issue
of staters, tetradrachms and drachms bearing his own types. It must have been a small issue, as Thompson notes that all eight of the tetradrachms she encountered shared the same obverse die, and that staters and drachms shared an obverse die.
After the Battle of Corupedium in 281, at which Lysimachus was killed, Smyrna was controlled by Seleucid kings until late in the century. Martin Price dates to the period c.280-275
B.C. a single issue of tetradrachms from Smyrna with the types of Alexander III, which may constitute the first Seleucid issue
of the city. Toward the end of the reign of Antiochus I a series of tetradrachms with that king's portrait and a seated Apollo were struck at Smyrna. Thereafter, smaller issues of tetradrachms may have been produced under Antiochus II, Seleucus II and Antiochus Hierax.
Late in the 3rd Century, c.220-200, when Seleucid control over Western Asia Minor was wavering, Smyrna produced its next group of tetradrachms, for which it used the familiar Alexan- drine designs. This effort was substantial, as more than a dozen different issues are recorded. Soon afterward, in 196, the aggressions of Antiochus III caused Smyrna to join with Lampsa- cus and King Eumenes II in seeking Roman intervention, which culminated in the defeat of Antiochus III in 189 at Magnesia, thus bringing an end to Seleucid authority in the region.
Smyrna's next silver coinage – the type offered here – does not appear to have been issued until c.160-145 B.C. This splen- did coinage sheds any trace of royal oversight. The obverse features a powerful image of Tyche, the protectress of cities, which earlier had been used as a mint-symbol on the Alexan- drine tetradrachms of Smyrna. The reverse is an equally bold statement of civic pride and independence: the city's name and a magistrate's monogram within a wreath.
Seemingly after this issue, Smyrna produced tetradrachms with the same obverse type, though with an advancing lion added to the reverse. Those generally are thought to have been struck between c.160 and c.100 B.C., with the latest in the series pe- rhaps being struck early in the 1st Century. To the city's late 2nd Century coinage we may also add a brief issue of cistophori of the usual Pergamene type, though bearing the civic inscription of Smyrna and the iconic head of Tyche.