Bargain Alexander III tetradrachm turned out to be a scarcer type!

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by JayAg47, Dec 22, 2020.

  1. JayAg47

    JayAg47 Well-Known Member

    Last month I was browsing online through some tetradrachms and stumbled upon this coin for a price of only 60 USD on a private site, I discerned that it's a posthumous issue from Zeus's crossed leg, which the seller also mentioned, but attributed this coin to Sear 6721, which is far from correct. Even though most of the collectors would pass up the coin in this condition, I actually liked it (with the cheap price also factoring), but the fact that the test cuts on the obverse were only done around the edge and not smack bang on the face gave it some 'circulated feel' without losing it's eye-appeal, so I bought it anyway!
    Now on to the hard part, I wanted to know what this coin actually is! the main thing that struck me odd is how close Zeus is holding the eagle to his face, whereas almost every single tets I saw online are not this close, also note how his head is looking down as opposed to straight or even up! also I saw some smudgy lion looking thing next to his knee, but that wasn't much helpful in tracing the coin.
    Kassander - Antigonos II Gonatas??
    Uncertain mint in Macedon or Greece, circa 310-275 BC
    29mm, 16.38g.
    My photo:
    tet.png
    Seller's photo:
    price 879.jpg
    After literally hours of search, I came across this page on Numisbids, that actually resembeld my coin with the positioning of the eagle/Zeus and the lion. But, this coin has the lettering ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ under the throne, yet not mine (might be too worn), however the numisbid coin had Zeus's hand making an angle to the scepter, while mine is at 90 degrees, also their lion has two legs, mine appears to have one!
    Numisbids coin:
    image00238.jpg
    I still took the lead, as they referred Price 879! On the Pella page, the Price 879 gave me three coins, two looking similar to the Numisbid coin from American Numismatic Society and the British Museum, and one looking like mine also from ANS.
    The one from ANS is down below, it looks the same as my coin as all the features in both the obv and rev matches out, possibly a die match?! look at the one legged lion, 90 degree arm, and the absence of ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, even then, this type is given the same Price 879 as the other variety.
    ans.png

    So turns out that the only other example of my coin (that I know of) is with ANS!
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2020
    Puckles, finny, tibor and 10 others like this.
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  3. Paul M.

    Paul M. Well-Known Member

    Funny you should mention something like this. Sometimes I like to look up attributions for random coins I see for sale unattributed. I tried this yesterday with an Alexander drachm and discovered the example for sale was unlisted in Price! It's always fun when you randomly come across something unlisted or super rare, isn't it? :)
     
    finny and JayAg47 like this.
  4. JayAg47

    JayAg47 Well-Known Member

    Idk if my coin is indeed rare, but giving it an ID is definitely satisfying!
     
    Paul M. and finny like this.
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