ALEXANDER THE GREAT SILVER TETRADRACHM – VERY RARE EARLY POSTHUMOUS ISSUE UNKNOWN TO PRICE – CHOICE XF NGC GRADED GREEK MACEDONIAN KINGDOM COIN (Inv. 192723)
SOLD
19723. MACEDONIAN KINGDOM. ALEXANDER III, THE GREAT, 336–323 BC.
Silver Tetradrachm, 17.09 g, 27 mm. Early posthumous issue of a mint in the Levant or East.
Obv. Head of young Heracles right in lion skin headdress. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, Zeus enthroned left, holding eagle and scepter, NK monogram above Δ in left field, X below throne.
Price unlisted, but cf C. Hersh, “Additions and Corrections to Martin J. Price’s ‘The Coinage in the name of Alexander the Great and Philip Arrhidaeus’” in Studies Price, no. 70 (monogram variety).
NGC graded CHOICE XF, Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5, “[unlisted in M. Price]”.
This is part of a group of coins unknown to Martin Prince, though subsequently signaled in part by Charles Hersh. The defining feature is a K or NK control combined with different monograms in left field. Hersh listed a piece with K over ΔEI and HP. On CoinArchives there are several specimens that feature NK over ΔEI and HP on throne, such as CNG E198, lot 53. All of these, including the Hersh piece, were struck with the same obverse die. However, this seems to be the only specimen with this particular combination of controls, most of which appear recut in the die over earlier ones and struck with the same obverse die in what must be its final state.