One of my dream coins that actually depicts Alexander rather than him as Herakles. I just love the high relief on these coins, I read somewhere that these high relief meant to actually depict the side profile of the face of a person/statue. So I took a photo of the edge, cropped the image, slightly widened them, copied and pasted another set to make the face. Now on to the coin! Kings of Thrace (Macedonian). Lysimachos, AR Tetradrachm, 16.43 g, 27 mm. 305-281 BC, Sardes mint. Obv: Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, wearing horn of Ammon. Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ. Athena seated left on throne, holding Nike and spear over shoulder. ΠPΕ monogram outer left, ΔK monogram in exergue. Ref: Thompson 86; HGC 3.2, 1750d. Despite the worn reverse, I managed to attribute the coin, In fact I found the following obverse die-match. Please post your coins of Lysimachos!
Nice example, and finding a die match was a bonus. I only possess 1 coin from Lysimachos, totally different type from your coin. Lysimachos, Kingdom of Thrace, AE 20mm, 5.20 gr. Generous flan. Lysimachia mint. 305-281 BC. Helmeted head of Athena right / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΛYΣIMAXOY, above and beneath lion leaping right, spearhead and M on O monogram below. Mueller 74.
LYSIMACHUS KING OF THRACIA AE 20 OBVERSE: Helmeted head of Athena right REVERSE: BASILEWS LUSIMACOU, above and beneath lion running right, small caduceus, spearhead below Struck at Uncertain mint, Thrace 305-281 BC 6.1g, 20mm SNG Cop1149-51
Oooo, I love this coin @JayAg47. It has been a kind of bucket-list coin for me since the 1980s when I saw it on the cover of one of the Penguin Classics paperbacks: (photo from Goodreads) Same guy, but not nearly as pretty, here is one I recently got from an eBay undescribed lot. It isn't in horrible shape, but unfortunately it has one of those green-brown patinas that looks like duck hunter's camo, making it very hard to see. The reverse is a trophy arranged to look like Athena, which is kind of interesting: Kingdom of Thrace Æ 21 Lysimachos (c. 295/294 - 289/288 B.C.) Uncertain Western Asia Minor or Uncertain Macedonian Mint Young male head (or Athena) right, wearing Phrygian helmet / AΣIΛ[EΩΣ] ΛYΣIMAXOY, trophy of arms resembling Athena standing left. (6.07 grams / 21 x 20 mm) eBay Oct. 2023 Attribution: SNG Copenhagen 1164-7; Mueller pl. 2, 13; HGC 3.2, 1755; Sear SG 6818. Note: Wildwinds says obverse head is Athena; auctions say "young male head." Demos, Leu & CNG say "Uncertain mint in Western Asia Minor" Agora says "Uncertain Macedonian mint, struck 295/4-289/8"
Fabulous coin @JayAg47 - Alexander has a very distinctive upward gaze on your specimen. Glad you were able to find a better and less expensive example than the earlier one! I posted about my own acquisition of this type here. Mine is from Alexandria Troas:
My tetradrachm is too embarrassing to show... My drachm is quite off- center on the obverse but I still like it. It's part of my sub-collection on the evolution of "seated left imagery" c. 500 BCE - 400 CE. Would rather have a decent Tetradrachm though!
