PERSEUS SILVER TETRADRACHM – ISSUE OF PELLA OR AMPHIPOLIS – XF NGC GRADED GREEK MACEDONIAN COIN (Inv. 17449)

$2,500.00

MACEDON. PERSEUS, 179-168 BC.
Silver tetradrachm, 15.49 g, 30 mm. Issue of Pella or Amphipolis, ca. 171-168 BC.
Obv. Diademed head of Perseus right. Rev. ΒΑΣΙ-ΛΕΩΣ ΠEP-ΣEΩΣ, eagle standing on thunderbolt right, monograms in field, all within oak wreath, star in exergue.
F. De Luca, The Tetradrachms of Perseus of Macedonia, 294 (O61/R263); Mamroth, 20b; SNG Alpha Bank 1133 var. (monograms and symbol); HGC, 3.1, 1094.
NGC graded XF, Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5.

As the eldest son of Philip V by a concubine, Perseus feared that when his father died, the throne of Macedon would pass to his legitimate and pro-Roman half-brother, Demetrius. In order to improve his odds, in 180 BC, Perseus forged a letter implicating Demetrius in a plot and guaranteeing his execution. His heartbroken father died in the following year and Perseus became the new king. The removal of his half-brother did not sit well with the Senate and complaints from Eumenes II of Pergamon that Perseus had an expansionist agenda provided an excuse for the Romans to embark on the Second Macedonian War (171-168 BC). Coins such as the present tetradrachm were struck to finance the armies raised by Perseus to defend his kingdom against the Romans. He was defeated at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC and the Romans subsequently divided the Macedonian kingdom into four closely monitored protectorates. It is with some irony that Perseus’ coins feature the image of Zeus’ eagle on a thunderbolt on the reverse – the same emblem that also topped the standards of the Roman legions that brought his ruin.