I'm slowly going through the big mixed lot from Stacks. They are essentially unattributed, although some have a ruler's name. This one had nothing. I saw the reverse and was delighted! It's a shame it was cleaned with a hammer drill but I'm still happy to have it because of the wonderful story it depicts. These coins do not appear to be plentiful. I don't have the attribution nailed down so if any of you can help, it would be welcome. Macedon Koinon 3rd century AD (in the time of Severus Alexander? Gordian III? Caracalla? This type was minted during several reigns) AE27, 13.5 gm Obv: (in theory...) AΛEΞANΔPOC; head of Alexander right (flowing hair? lion skin?) Rev: KOINON MAKEΔONΩN [?]NEΩ Alexander standing right, naked except for chlamys which flies behind him, taming his horse Bucephalas who rears left before him Ref: ?? Check out this great story about Alexander III's famous horse, from CNG's archives: I'd seen coins attributed to "Macedon Koinon" before but didn't understand what that meant. Here's what I read today (from Forvm):
The missing letter is B honoring the second neocourate temple (temple to the Imperial cult - a big deal in the day). There are many reverses of these semiautonomous coins and many are a bit fancy. Few are well made. Yours is not terrible. My top one is terrrrible but I keep it around because it honors victories (the baskets were trophies) in the games mentioned in the field: O/LYM//PIA. It is also a great example showing the edge of the obverse die and how much extra there was before the flan would wrap around the die.
TIF => I don't know why you seem disappointed with that bunch o' winners?!! => Man, I'm absolutely lovin' your coin show!! (congrats on another cool coin!!) Ummm, I have a couple of examples to add to your thread: Koinon of Macedonia 238-344 AD Diameter: 25.4 mm Weight: 12.6 grams Obverse: Helmeted head of Alexander the Great gazing upwards Reverse: Alexander on horseback Koinon of Macedonia 238-344 AD Diameter: 25.6 mm Weight: 10.9 grams Obverse: Diademed head of Alexander the Great Reverse: Athena, holding patera and spear, shield behind her => Doug ... this coin is similar to your 2nd coin
Yes but you have the less common hair flowing in the breeze obverse. Yours also has a mintmark on both sides that needs to be investigated. I suspect these were issued by more than one city within the Koinon and that mark might be significant but I do not have a reference on that thought. We might as well also point out that many of these coins have scratches from flan adjustment filing so the OP coin has some allowable scratches on the portrait as well as cleaning abrasions in the fields. It still is not a nice coin but would likely sell to a Bucephalus fan for more than the average per coin cost of the lot. I owned the last coin I posted here for quite a while before I decided to accession it into my collection despite its condition. I probably would not buy the OP coin if I found one similar but I know I would not be able to afford the type in a nice clean fine.
Here's what a similar coin looks like in high grade. It sold today in Roma's auction for ~$5815 US on an estimate of ~$970. I'd love to have a high grade example but not for that price!
In between other duties I was watching some of these lots hammer live online too. I got a little impatient when bidding was stuck on this particular coin for a ridiculously long time. Couldn't for the life of me figure out why. It's only slightly nicer than yours.
