MESAMBRIA SILVER ALEXANDER TYPE TETRADRACHM – ISSUE OVERSTRUCK ON A LYSIMACHUS TETRADRACHM – VF GREEK THRACE COIN (Inv. 19636)

$950.00

19636. THRACE. MESAMBRIA. CIVIC ISSUE IN THE NAME AND TYPES OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ca. 225–175 BC.
Silver Tetradrachm of Alexander type, 16.48 g, 33 mm.
Obv. Head of young Heracles right in lion skin headdress. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, Zeus enthroned left, holding eagle and scepter, Corinthian helmet right above ΔI monogram (engraved over a previous monogram) in left field.
Price 1001; Karayotov, Coinage of Mesambria, 96 (O19/R53) = Mektepini Hoard 16.
VF, with traces of overstriking on the reverse.

The host coin employed here is a Lysimachus tetradrachm. Part of the undertype’s reverse, the Athena’s bent elbow resting on the shield, appears to the left of the eagle’s deformed head, as do the letters …ΛI… from the title ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ. MacDonald, Overstruck Greek Coins, 96 lists a Mesambria tetradrachm over a Byzantium Lysimachus type dated to ca. 175–150 BC. For the earlier period of ca. 225–175 BC, MacDonald only cites Alexander type hosts and thus the coin above represents a newly documented instance where a Lysimachus tetradrachm was used.