ALEXANDER THE GREAT SILVER TETRADRACHM – VERY RARE PUBLISHED & PLATED EMISSION OF MESAMBRIA FROM THE BLACK SEA HOARD – CHOICE AU NGC GRADED GREEK MACEDONIAN COIN (Inv. 19425)
$3,500.00
19425. THRACE. MESAMBRIA. CIVIC ISSUE IN THE NAME AND TYPES OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ca. 280–225 BC.
Silver Tetradrachm of Alexander type, 16.86 g, 30 mm. Issue of Mesambria, ca. 240–225 BC.
Obv. Head of young Heracles right in lion skin headdress. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, Zeus enthroned left, holding eagle and scepter, helmet above ΠO monogram in left field.
Price 988; Karayotov 127, citing the London specimen mentioned in Price that also appears in Pella.
Published: Marinescu & Lorber, “The ‘Black Sea’ Tetradrachm Hoard,” in Studies Prokopov, no. 190 (THIS COIN LISTED AND ILLUSTRATED – 1 of 6 specimens of this issue in the hoard).
NGC graded CHOICE AU, Strike 4/5, Surface 3/5, “brushed,” publication data noted on label, perhaps the highest graded Alexander from the Black Sea hoard, with subtle golden tone.
Alexanders became a favored coinage for trade in the western Black Sea area during the 3rd–early 1st centuries BC. The “Black Sea Hoard” was published in 2012 and has been instrumental in clarifying the circulation of Hellenistic silver tetradrachms coins in the area, as well as invaluable in establishing their chronology. For researchers it has been a very important source of information and remains a frequently cited source.