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Thracian Kingdom. Lysimachos. Silver Tetradrachm (16.69 g), as King, 306-281 BC

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:600.00 USD Estimated At:750.00 USD
Thracian Kingdom. Lysimachos. Silver Tetradrachm (16.69 g), as King, 306-281 BC
Byzantion, under Mithradates VI of Pontos, 120-63 BC. Diademed head of deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon. Reverse: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ, Athena seated left, holding Nike and resting elbow on shield at side, spear leaning against her far shoulder; in inner left field, monogram; on throne, BY; in exergue, trident. Cf. De Callataÿ grp. 2B, p. 123; SNG Copenhagen 1139. NGC grade Ch AU; Strike: 5/5, Surface: 2/5. Edge bend. Lysimachos' gold and silver coinage featuring the deified head of Alexander and Athena Nikephoros, which he introduced in 297/6 BC, had a lasting popularity, especially among the Thracian and Celtic peoples who supplied mercenary troops to many of the Hellenistic kingdoms and who demanded them from their paymasters even long after Lysimachos was dead. This particular posthumous-Lysimachos tetradrachm was struck by the important city of Byzantion, probably in support of the expansion of the Pontic empire of Mithradates VI Eupator (ca. 116-63 BC) in the Black Sea and perhaps even during his first confrontation with the Romans in the First Mithradatic War (89-85 BC).