| Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles > Auction 137 | Auction date: 29 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 1035 Price realized: 10,500 USD (Approx. 9,725 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Macedonian Kingdom. Philip II. Gold Stater (8.60 g), 359-336 BC. Abydos, ca. 323-319 BC. Laureate head of youthful Apollo right. Reverse: charioteer, holding kentron and reins, driving galloping biga right; below, Ξ and horse's leg. ADM II, Series V, 88; SNG ANS 298; Money of the World 8 (this coin). Boldly struck with golden lustrous surfaces. Wonderful late classical style, the reverse, especially, a work of art for this series. NGC grade Ch AU; Strike: 5/5, Surface: 2/5. Fine style, brushed. Estimated Value $6,000 - UP The popular gold coinage of Philip II ultimately derived its obverse image of Apollo from the coinage of the Chalkidian League, an important Greek federal state in southern coastal Macedonia that he conquered in 348 BC. The type may have been intended to refer to Philip's status as leader of the Amphiktyonic League of Delphi - Apollo's most famous sanctuary in Greece - or to cast him in a more general panhellenic light in preparation for his projected war against the Achaemenid Persian Empire. The biga reverse type refers to the victory of Philip's chariot in the Olympic games of 348 BC, which was discussed by Plutarch (Alex. 4.9) in one of the rare instances of a surviving ancient textual source regarding coinage. The intended purpose was to promote the Macedonians as Greeks, which indeed they were but were nevertheless seen by their more affluent and culturally refined southern neighbors as backwards bumpkins. The Macedonian king was fond of commemorating his Olympic victories on his coins. His horse-and-jockey tetradrachms also celebrate the victory of his horse in the keles event of the Olympic games in 356 BC. Ex Goldberg's Auction 46, May 26, 2008 The Millennia Collection, Lot 16. Illustrated in Money of the World, coin 8. |  |
