ANTIGONUS SILVER TETRADRACHM – POSEIDON / APOLLO ON PROW ISSUE PUBLISHED IN PANAGOPOULOU – GOOD VF GREEK KINGDOM OF MACEDON COIN (Inv. 19873)

$6,500.00

19873. KINGDOM OF MACEDON. ANTIGONUS II GONATAS–ANTIGONUS III DOSON, 229–221 BC.
Silver Tetradrachm, 16.91 g, 32 mm. Issue of Amphipolis or Pella, ca. 246/5–229 BC.
Obv. Bearded head of Poseidon right. Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIΓONOΥ, Apollo seated left on prow of battle galley with ram, holding his bow, control monogram below.
Panagopoulou, Early Antigonids, Period III, p. 175, no. 229c (O34/R219, this coin listed).
Ex Central Texas Collection, acquired from Nilus Coins, inv. 32628, with old tag (tag incorrectly cites Lanz provenance) = Lanz 153, 12/12/2011,197 = PGB Collection, purchased in 1968 from Frederick S. Knobloch in New York.
Good VF, minor circulation marks, attractive blue highlights on gray toning, professionally conserved since its appearance in Lanz to remove unsightly encrustation.

While the largest series of tetradrachms associated with the reigns of Antigonos II Gonatas and Antigonos III Doson feature Pan on a Macedonian shield and Athena Alkidemos, a rarer series, to which this coin belongs, pairs the head of Poseidon with Apollo seated on a galley. These types almost certainly refer to the important campaigns carried out by these Antigonid kings to gain and maintain control of the Aegean islands in the face of Ptolemaic naval power. One of the most popular explanations of the types is that they were initially introduced to celebrate the victory of the fleet of Antigonus II over that of Ptolemy III Euergetes at the Battle of Andros, probably around 246/5 BC (the precise date is disputed). This victory won Antigonos control of the League of Islanders formerly controlled by the Ptolemaic kings and was celebrated on the island of Delos with a great sacrifice and the dedication of Antigonos’ flagship to Apollo.