ANTIOCHUS II SILVER TETRADRACHM – ISSUE OF TARSUS – NGC CH VF GREEK SELEUCID KINGDOM COIN (Inv. 21422)

$850.00

21422. SELEUCID EMPIRE. ANTIOCHUS II, 261–246 BC.
Silver Tetradrachm, 17.13 g, 31 mm. Issue of Tarsus.
Obv. Diademed head of Antiochus II right. Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOY, Apollo seated left on omphalos, holding arrow in right hand and resting left on grounded bow; NK and HAP monograms in exergue.
SC 563a; HGC 9, 238n (R1-R2).
NGC CH VF, Strike 4/5, Surface 4/5, “die shift.”

Shortly after Antiochus II succeeded as sole Seleucid king in 261 BC, his sworn enemy, Ptolemy II, began the Second Syrian War (261–253 BC) in an attempt to seize parts of Antiochus’ kingdom. Ptolemy captured Tarsus in late 261 BC and held onto it until 259 BC, when Antiochus II expelled the Ptolemaic forces from the city. Prior to the Ptolemaic conquest Tarsus had produced gold and silver coinage for Antiochus II with distinctive control monograms, two of which continued in use during the Ptolemaic occupation. The NK monogram on this tetradrachm of Antiochus II, however, was actually introduced for the Tarsian coinage of Ptolemy II and continued after the Seleucid reconquest. This continuity of monograms illustrates the involvement of local magistrates/moneyers in the production of both Ptolemaic and Seleucid coinages.