| Heritage World Coin Auctions > NYINC Signature Sale 3113 | Auction date: 8 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 31019 Price realized: 6,500 USD (Approx. 5,925 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Ancients THRACIAN KINGDOM. Lysimachus (305-281 BC). AR tetradrachm (30mm, 17.11 gm, 12h). NGC AU★ 5/5 - 4/5, Fine Style. Pergamum, ca. 287/6-282 BC. Diademed head of deified Alexander III right, with horn of Ammon; dotted border / BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ΛYΣIMAXOY, Athena seated left, Nike standing left in outstretched right hand, resting left arm on grounded shield decorated with gorgoneion head boss, transverse spear in background; herm left in outer left field, archaic xoanon (cult image) facing in inner left field, ΕY monogram in exergue. Thompson, Essays Robinson, 224 var. (K on obverse, EΠ monogram on reverse). Müller 287 var. (same). Cf. Baldwin's, New York Sale IV (17 January 2002), lot 115 for same type. Exceptionally sharp dies rendered with stunning artistic achievement onto radiant and pearlescent surfaces. Alexander the Great's meteoric 13-year career of conquest left the classical world profoundly transformed by the time of his premature death in 323 BC. In the immediate aftermath, Alexander's generals carved up his immense new empire into spheres of influence, although maintaining the fiction of a unified leadership. Territorial disputes soon led to civil wars, with the rival warlords contending for supreme power. Chief among these was Lysimachus, who at various times controlled Thrace, Macedon and much of Asia Minor. For the obverse of his silver his coinage, Lysimachus claimed the mantle of Alexander by choosing the image of the conqueror himself, now shown as a god wearing the ram's horn of the Greco-Egyptian deity Ammon. The image is one of the earliest true portraits to appear on a coin, and one of the finest. The reverse, depicting Athena enthroned, likewise proved extremely influential throughout history, forming the archetype for the figure of Britannia on modern English coins. https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/ancients-thracian-kingdom-lysimachus-305-281-bc-ar-tetradrachm-30mm-1711-gm-12h-ngc-auand-9733-5/a/3113-31019.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3113-01082024 HID02906262019 © 2023 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved Estimate: 8000-10000 USD |  |
