Hello ladies and gentlemen, I have this drachm Described by the auction house just with these details: "Kings of Macedon. Kolophon (?). Alexander III "the Great" 336-323 BC. Drachm AR 17 mm., 3,75 g." I wanted to add in my albums some iconic Greek types and this one is OK but I want to attribute it correctly. I had a discussion with @Sulla80 who was very helpful, but I cannot pinpoint an exact attribution. Is this possible or is the drachm too worn? I knew there are many variants but I wasn't expecting so many. From what I read, this coin, being the version with crossed legs, indicates a posthumous issue. I cannot see any symbol under the chair and I don't know what symbol is near the knee. Is there a resource (except wildwinds) to help in narrowing down the attribution? Many thanks in advance.
I can see a spear behind the words ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, that may give you some lead! However the icon near his knee is too smudged for me to identify tho. Found it!! https://www.coinshome.net/en/coin_d...om_(800BC_146BC)-A0LBwcI0GFoAAAEmjxk6TOhI.htm
Thank you! I could have spent the next 20 years without noticing the spear, i thought that is just the exterior of the design. I was just about to say that spear head indicates Kolophon mint, but it appears it is used on Magnesia ad Maeandrum coinage as well. Plus the bee. I didn't know there are so many mints and variants for these drachms.
20 years wouldn't have been enough for me - nice call @JayAg47! The bee looks like a good fit with the left side "smudge" too. Price 1936 Magnesia ad Maeandrum :
That was my initial attribution as well but to make things more interesting, there is Price 1937-38 with the bee facing left. http://numismatics.org/pella/id/price.1937
Truth be told, I think the reverse is too far gone to be of much help. Your best bet is going to be to find an obverse die match, IMO. All I can say about this one is that the obverse is of good style, and it looks like it's probably a posthumous issue to me.
I think @JayAg47 was right in the attribution. The coin is not in the best shape, but I like it and I think the price was very good for me, as I only wanted 1 example (for now) of this iconic coin.
Figuring out Alexander-type drachms can be difficult. I use a Google Image search - Alexander drachm spear - this usually pulls up an auction, Coin Talk post or Vcoins listing, etc. that has the Price, Müller, etc. information I need. This I do because I don't have a very good numismatic library! Here is a spear head on one I got this Spring. If the OP has a star to the left by Zeus's knee, this might be a match: Macedonia Kingdom Drachm Menander or Kleitos n.d. (c. 322-319 B.C.) Kolophon Mint Head of Herakles right, wearing lion-skin / AΛEΞANΔPOY, Zeus seated left holding eagle & scepter, star in left field, spear head to outer right. Price 1759; Müller 317. (4.22 grams / 18 x 17 mm) Notes: "In the name and types of Alexander III. Kolophon mint. Struck under Menander or Kleitos, circa 322-319 BC." Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 466 Lot number: 46 Auction date: 22 April 2020
Looks more like the bee (Price 1937-38). Will have to check the coin tomorrow in hand, although the auction house pics were good.
Yeah, I'd agree that's more beelike. I hope you don't mind if I pile on to your "unknown Alexander" thread here. A while back I posted one that stumped me and it still stumps me. Nobody was able to help out then, but sometimes a redo can be fruitful. Original post: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/philip-iii-arrhidaios-drachm-need-some-help-with-symbols.326964/ I know it is Philip because it says Philip on it, but beyond that I'm stumped. Here's my incomplete attribution/guess: Macedonia Kingdom Drachm Philip III Arrhidaios (c. 323-319 B.C.) Thrace-Kolophon mint ? Head of Herakles right, wearing lion-skin / FILIPPOU, Zeus seated left, right leg drawn back, holding eagle & scepter, F left, club (?) rt., knife (?) under throne. Unattributed (3.99 grams / 17 mm) Here's my attribution scratch sheet for the symbols on this one: Reverse Symbols: Horse leg under throne slanted right: Pella: Abydus Mint Price 26 (Alexander) Horse leg in right field behind legend: Auct & Pella: Abydos Mint Price 25 Club in right field behind legend: Auct: Sardes Mint Price 2550 (Alexander) Theta in left field: Pella: Kolophon mint Price 1816-1819 (Alexander).
FYI to everyone, there's a good resource online at http://numismatics.org/pella/ for identifying Alexander coinage. I believe it has every Price number, along with photos of at least most of them.
I never thought of it that way - thanks for the suggestion. That's one of the great things about Coin Talk - suggestions like this help me see coins in a new way. I was stuck on thinking "theta" when indeed, it looks more like an A over a circle, or AP monogram. Using this way of looking at it, I did another acsearch/Google Image search, and still I come up with nothing. But I won't give up! Thanks again, PeteB, and Merry Christmas.
