GC Le monete più attraenti di Alessandro Magno

[apollonia]

Asta Classical Numismatic Group, LLC Triton XXIX  13-14 Jan 2026 https

Lot 135. Estimate: 750 USD. Price realized: 1600 USD.

KINGS of MACEDON. Philip III Arrhidaios. 323-317 BC. AR Tetradrachm (27.5mm, 17.18 g, 7h). In the name and types of Alexander III. Tarsos mint. Struck under Philotas or Philoxenos. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΛEΞANΔPOY, Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; monogram in left field, Θ below throne. Price 3036; Newell, Tarsos 41, obv. die XLIII; ANS inv. 1944.100.33663 (same obv. die). Traces of find patina, graffito (Aramaic B) in field on reverse. EF.

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[apollonia]

Asta Classical Numismatic Group, LLC Triton XXIX  13-14 Jan 2026 https

Lot 136. Estimate: 750 USD. Price realized: 1800 USD.

KINGS of MACEDON. Philip III Arrhidaios. 323-317 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 17.13 g, 5h). In the name and types of Alexander III. Susa mint. Struck under Koinos, circa 322-320 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΛEΞANΔPOY, Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; below throne, ΛA above strut, monogram below. Price 3846 var. (position of monogram); Roma E-Sale 111, lot 186 (same dies). Toned, a couple of minor die breaks on obverse. Good VF. Extremely rare, unpublished and only the Roma coin in CoinArchives.

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[apollonia]

Asta Classical Numismatic Group, LLC Triton XXIX  13-14 Jan 2026

Lot 139. Estimate: 2500 USD. Price realized: 5250 USD.
KINGS of MACEDON. Kassander. As regent, 317-305 BC, or king, 305-298 BC. AV Stater (18.5mm, 8.59 g, 5h). In the name and types of Alexander III. Amphipolis mint. Struck circa 307-300 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet decorated with a coiled serpent, and pearl necklace / AΛEΞANΔPOY, Nike, wearing long chiton, standing left, holding wreath in extended right hand and cradling stylis in left arm; in left field, trident head horizontally left. Price 175; Troxell, Ants, Issue 3; Westmoreland 11 (this coin). Underlying luster, minor marks. Good VF. Well centered on a broad flan.

From the Westmoreland Collection, purchased from Noble Numismatics.

apollonia

[apollonia]

Asta Classical Numismatic Group, LLC Triton XXIX  13-14 Jan 2026

Lot 140
Estimate: 750 USD. Price realized: 3000 USD.

KINGS of MACEDON. temp. Kassander – Antigonos II Gonatas. Circa 310-275 BC. AR Tetradrachm (28.5mm, 16.98 g, 1h). In the name and types of Alexander III. Uncertain mint in Greece or Macedon. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / AΛEΞANΔPOY, Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; bee in left field. Price 859; ANS inv. 1944.100.29596 (same dies); Meydancikkale 507; Westmoreland 20 (this coin). Iridescent toned, minor double strike and tiny die break on obverse, scratch at edge on reverse. VF. Extremely rare, only two in Pella, none in CoinArchives (the two attributed as such are erroneous), and Price references the Meydancikkale coin.

From the Westmoreland Collection, purchased from Colin Pitchfork, 5 September 2005. Ex Hirsch 223 (16 September 2002), lot 1541; Monetarium 61 (Spring 1994), no. 34.

apollonia

 

 

[apollonia]

Asta Classical Numismatic Group, LLC Triton XXIX  13-14 Jan 2026

Lot 145
Estimate: 750 USD. Price realized: 3750 USD.

KINGS of MACEDON. Antigonos II Gonatas. 277/6-239 BC. AR Tetradrachm (31mm, 17.10 g, 1h). Amphipolis mint. Struck circa 271/68-260/55 BC. Horned head of Pan left, lagobolon over shoulder, in the center of a Macedonian shield / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIΓONOY, Athena Alkidemos advancing left, shield decorated with aegis on left arm, preparing to cast thunderbolt held aloft in right hand; crested Macedonian helmet to inner left, monogram to inner right. TEA Period I, Group 3, 14b (O6/R14 – this coin); HGC 3, 1042. Light iridescent tone, a little die wear, minor marks. Good VF. Well centered.

From the JTB Collection. Ex Maison Palombo 23 (27 March 2024), lot 7; Peus 280 (30 October 1972), lot 100.

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[apollonia]

In questa discussione ho avuto modo in più occasioni di parlare di Mitridate VI Eupatore, re del Ponto, e di presentare alcune monete sue e dei suoi tempi (v. post #3663 e segg.).

Aggiungo due tetradrammi e uno statere della recente asta Classical Numismatic Group, LLC Triton XXIX  13-14 Jan 2026.

Lot 194
Estimate: 3000 USD. Price realized: 3000 USD.

KINGS of PONTOS. Mithradates VI Eupator. Circa 120-63 BC. AR Tetradrachm (31.5mm, 16.78 g, 11h). Pergamon mint. Dated month 11, year 212 BE (August 85 BC). Diademed head right / BAΣIΛEΩΣ MIΘPAΔATOY EYΠATOPOΣ, stag grazing left; to left, star-in-crescent above monogram, BIΣ (year) above monogram; IA (month) below; all within Dionysiac wreath of ivy and fruit. Callataÿ p. 16, dies D3/R1; RG 16; HGC 7, 338; DCA2 555; SNG BN 808 (same dies). In NGC encapsulation 8240724-014, graded AU, Strike: 4/5, Surface: 4/5.

Mithradates was a Hellenistic monarch par excellence, his career driven by megalomaniacal ambitions leading to murderous assaults upon family and followers and disastrous foreign adventures against superior forces. His portraiture attempts to mimic the gods with its bold staring gaze and unruly, free-flowing hair, but at its most extreme is a personification of hysteria in its Dionysiac sense.

At the age of 18, Mithradates overthrew his mother's regency and embarked on a career of conquest, bringing most of the lands around the Black Sea into his domain. His expansionist aims inevitably brought him into conflict with Rome, and in preparation for the coming war he built up the largest army in Asia, unleashing it in 88 BC in what would be the First Mithradatic War. He sought to undermine the Roman power base by ordering the massacre of every Roman citizen in Asia in which nearly 80,000 people perished.

The Romans were not intimidated, and when Mithradates crossed over to Greece proper as 'Liberator', the Roman legions under Sulla smashed his army. Mithradates retreated to Pontus, from where he continued to skirmish with the Romans, suffering more defeats to the general Lucullus. In 63 BC, having suffered a final defeat by Pompey and facing a revolt by his own son Pharnakes, the elderly king tried to commit suicide by taking poison, but he had inured himself to its affects by years of small counterdoses, and so had to be stabbed to death by one of his mercenaries.