Recently, I picked this coin up. I bought it mainly due to the Menelaus (brother of Ptolemy I) attribution, as his coins aren't common, but I was also intrigued by the overstrike. It's clear that the obverse was overstruck on another Alexander tet's reverse. Similarly, the reverse was overstruck on another Alexander tet's obverse. I'm wondering, though, we they did this? My understanding is overstrikes are typically For one ruler to remove another's coinage To recycle completely worn coins To move to a lower weight system In this case though: The ruler was the same. Sure, maybe the original was minted by Pumiathon or Nikokreon, but they hardly put a differentiating stamp on their tets. It shouldn't have mattered. It's clear that the original coin was in decent condition. This coin is of the Athenian standard There are only three theories I can think of: The original was minted by Nikokles, who placed his name in tiny letters along the mane. It would have been in Menelaus' interest to destroy those. The original was a lighter weight Phoenician tet, and some silver was added to bring it up to the Athenian standard. There was no sane reason. The mint had a quota of tets, but no silver, so they reused older ones. What do you think the reason was? Kings of Macedon. Alexander III ‘the Great’Tetradrachm Silver, 27 mm, 17.11 g, 12 h Salamis, struck under Menelaus, circa 315-306 Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress. Rev. AΛEΞANΔPOY Zeus seated left on low throne, holding long scepter in his left hand and eagle standing right with closed wings in his right; to left, monogram and rudder; below throne, monogram of ΠE. Price 3165. Light marks and with traces of overstriking Ex Leu
I didn't vote, because I cannot tell, what the original coin was, and I'm not an expert, on Alexander tetradrachms. The only evidence, of an overstrike, that I see, is on the obverse, what looks like the letters "CIA" or "SIA" or "CI(lambda)" or "SI(lambda)", in front of Heracles's mouth, and I have no idea, what that means. Are there any other signs, of an overstrike? It's an interesting coin. I've never seen an Alexander overstrike before. EDIT : Now I see, what seems to be an outline, of the top of Alexander's head, on the left edge, and bottom edge, of the reverse.
This was what Leu wrote about it: Interestingly, this coin was overstruck on another Alexander tetradrachm. On the obverse, one can still discern 'ΣΙΛ' for ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, while the reverse clearly shows the manes of the lion's scalp.
Oops. I meant Heracles's head (debatable, of course). And I see the top of Heracles's head on the left edge of the reverse, and the back of Heracles's head on the bottom edge of the reverse, where the lion's mane is, as you mentioned in your reply.
