LYSIMACHUS GOLD STATER – UNIQUE VARIETY POSSIBLY OF BYZANTIUM – AU NGC GRADED GREEK THRACE COIN (Inv. 20532)

$8,500.00

20532. KINGDOM OF THRACE. LYSIMACHUS, 305–281 BC.
Gold Stater, 8.43 g, 19 mm. Likely a posthumous issue of Byzantium, ca. 260–240 BC.
Obv. Head of deified Alexander the Great right, with the horn of Ammon. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ, Athena enthroned left, holding Nike crowning Lysimachus’ name, spiral ornament on throne.
Marinescu, Making and Spending Money along the Bosporus: the Lysimachi Coinages Minted by Byzantium and Chalcedon and their Socio–Cultural Context (Columbia University Dissertation, 1996), Issue 21, unlisted in gold.
Ex CNG 70, 9/21/2005, lot 157 (with ticket).
NGC graded AU, Strike 4/5, Surface 2/5, “marks.”

This exceptionally interesting coin, almost certainly unique, is struck from dies that stylistically are very similar to those used at Byzantium and Chalcedon. However, aside from the spiral ornament on the throne that is often seen at Byzantium and Chalcedon, the coin bears no other identifying marks, so it must be attributed by style alone. It may well belong to Marinescu’s Issue 21 which has no issue mark, but the style of the dies is quite different. Alexander’s head on the obverse has elements seen both at Byzantium and Chalcedon, although no direct parallel. For now, it seems that it should be associated with Byzantium, pending the appearance of other dies that may cement the attribution.