DEMETRIUS II SILVER TETRADRACHM – EXCEPTIONAL FIRST REIGN ISSUE OF YEAR 167 AT ANTIOCH EX KERN COLLECTION – MINT STATE NGC GRADED GREEK SELEUCID KINGDOM COIN (Inv. 20347)

$2,250.00

20347. SELEUCID KINGDOM. DEMETRIUS II, FIRST REIGN, 146/5–138 BC.
Silver Tetradrachm, 16.49 g, 29 mm. Issue of Antioch on the Orontes, dated Seleucid Era year 167 (146/5 BC).
Obv. Diademed youthful head of Demetrius II right. Rev. BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔHMHTPIOY ΘEOY ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOY NIKATOPOΣ, Apollo seated left on omphalos, holding arrow in right hand and resting left hand on grounded bow, palm branch in outer left field, ΠA monogram in left field, ZΞP (date) and MYΔ monogram in exergue.
SC 1906.5d; HGC 9, 957d.
Ex Jonathan K. Kern Collection.
NGC graded MINT STATE, Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5, lustrous with some colorful highlights on the obverse and with an exceptional portrait of the young king.

This tetradrachm was struck at Antioch in 146/5 BC, at the very beginning of Demetrius’ reign. Unfortunately, he quickly turned the Syrian capital against him by disarming many members of the Seleucid royal army and replacing them with the Cretan mercenaries who had aided his rise to power and by embarking on reprisals against the Antiochenes for their previous support of his rival, Alexander I Balas. The Antiochenes responded with rioting that Demetrius only managed to repress by bringing in Jewish archers to fire on the crowds. Demetrius II made himself exceedingly unwelcome in Antioch and unpopular with the Seleucid military class. Thus, it is not surprising that the Antiochenes welcomed the child king Antiochus VI Dionysus and the army of his military handler, the scheming Diodotus Tryphon, when they forced Demetrius II to abandon the city and move his capital to Seleucia in Pieria in 144 BC.