Koinon of the Macedonians, Alexander the Great

I have been out of circulation for a while. This is the first coins of the from the Koinon of the Macedonians to make it into my collection.

AE25
Obv:- ALEXANDPOV, Diademed head of deified Alexander right, wreath? below the neck
Rev:- KOINON MAKEDONWN OMONOIA, Athena seated left, helmeted, Nike in right, spear in left, resting left arm on shield behind.
Koinon of Macedonia.

AMNG III 334



Martin

 

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Very nice!

 

Very nice Martin, good details and centering, i don't think i've seen one of these before. i like it..

 

I should have mentioned that these are from the 3rd century A.D. and are not contemporary with ATG. I am assuming this one comes from the time of Severus Alexander.

 

Looks great! How scarce are these?

 

Stunning!

 

Sweet => Wow, those are Great Koinon-Coins, my friend ... well done!!

I have a couple of far more worn-in examples ... I love the "Koinon Look"

Koinon of Macedonia AE25
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






Koinon of Macedonia AE25
238-344 AD
Diameter: 25.4 mm
Weight: 12.6 grams
Obverse: Helmeted head of Alexander the Great gazing upward
Reverse: Alexander on horseback

 

Not only are there several reverses of these, many of the reverses are more interesting than the average. Unfortunately, many I have seen and both I have are not in good shape.
Olympic game prizes (O/LVM/PIA in middle)
Compare:
http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=396832 ...but mine wasn't $1650 either!

 

I have one from a mixed lot. Someone scraped it up pretty badly in a cleaning attempt. I might try to spruce it up a bit, perhaps clean out the remaining crusty stuff. The type is nice, a depiction of Alexander taming Bucephalus.



Here's a nice bronze statue of the same scene, c. 1800's by John Steell. It's in Edinburgh of all places. The Scottish sculptor studied in Rome.

 

I have been discussing my coin with Curtis Clay and he has raised a few points of detail.

I have mis-described the reverse of my coin. What I had taken as being a shield is not a shield (look at Steve's coin to see what the shield should look like) at all and what I had taken as Nike isn't Nike either.

My reverse should be more correctly described as follows:-

Athena seated left holding Cabeiros (not Nike), seat has leg shaped like a lion's leg.

Curtis also provided me with some additional historical context to this particular issue which is marked with OMONOIA rather than NEOK (or one of the many variations thereof).

"According to Gaebler, pp. 20-21, these OMONOIA coins have an interesting historical connection in that they apparently commemorated a settlement between the province of Macedonia and the free city of Thessalonica, which did not belong to the Macedonian koinon and was usually squabbling with it. Gaebler thinks that in 231 AD, when Severus Alexander traveled through Macedonia on his way to Syria, Thessalonica and the koinon settled their differences and Thessalonica urged the emperor to allow the koinon to again issue coins with Beroia's title Neokopos, which is missing in this issue but reappears in the next."

Martin

 

This certainly makes your coin more interesting.

 

indeed...and very nice, i haven't seen one just like it. super color!

 

I have one:

obv.: bust of Severus Aleksander R
AY K MA CE A ( LEZANDROC - NOT READIBLE - greek letters )

rev.: KOINON MAKEDONQN EQ ( horsmen with R hand up, star bellow the hors star, flaping garment behind rider )

I didnt finde this Type of revers. Simmilar yes - right hand down with spear.
Unusual: EQ after MAKEDONQN
horsmen is a same as on the coins with ALEXANDER head.

diameter: 24,53 mm
weight: 11,02 gr
edge thickness: min 2,66 mm
max 3,09 mm

brown patina
nice preserved
coin hammerd out of center in R ( LEZANDROC ) is not readible
ref. connected with this coin: Gabler, Varbanov

 

I have one, bought as Koinon Macedon, no idea how to attribute it.

Someone told me that it might be from the time of Severus Alexander or maybe Diadumenian.

 

Yes it was minted during emperor S. Alexander ( AD 222 - 235 ), region Makedonia in Thrace. Obv.: ALEZANDROV ( Head of Alexander the great right with loose flowing hair ). Rev.: hard to read out, but left side KOINON - G - NQ ......Star below the hors. ( Alexander the great on his Bucephalus hors. Olympic style game issue. I have sImilar with KONON MAKEDONQN NEQ. Your is a standard VF quolity.

 

here is my Impuls. same as Pishpash

MACEDON, Koinon. Severus Alexander - Autonomous Provincial Issue 220-245 AD
Reference.
SNG Copenhagen 1372 var. (bust type).

Obv. ALEXANDPOV
Diademed head of Alexander the Great right.

Rev. KOINON MAKEDONWN NEW
Horseman right, thrusting spear

8. gr
27 mm

 

Why the term"koinon" for this series of coins? The word itself means common as in Koine Greek, the common language of the average Greek so what is "common" about this series of coins?

 

Koinon isn't the name for the series of coins. The Koinon of the Macedonians was a confederation of Macedonian communities under Roman rule.

Here is the relevant wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koinon

 

All coins posted are examples I'd love to have in my collection---and I learned quite a bit from all the narrative info. Another 'want list' item to my list!!! Congrats all!!