MACEDONIAN KINGDOM. Demetrius I Poliorcetes (306-283 BC). AR tetradrachm (28mm, 17.87 gm, 12h). NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 3/5, Fine Style, light smoothing. Tarsus, 298-295 BC. Nike standing left on prow of galley left decorated with apotropaic eye, sounding trumpet in right hand, cradling stylis in left arm / ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ-ΒΑΣΙ-ΛΕΩΣ, Poseidon, nude, striding left, seen from behind, net draped over extended left arm, preparing to throw trident held in right hand; ΠAP monogram in left field, ΦAN monogram in right field. Newell -, cf. 33 (stater) for the reverse monograms, and 36 (tetradrachm) for the types. Deep, fiery toning on obverse. Extremely rare. From the Paramount Collection. Ex Leu Numismatik AG, Auction 86 (5 May 2003), lot 364; Giessener Münzhandlung, Auction 67 (2 May 1994), lot 122 The most dashing of Alexander's successors, Demetrius I Poliorcetes was the son of the great Macedonian general Antigonus Monopthalmus ("one-eyed"), who served both Philip II and Alexander III the Great. After Alexander's death, Demetrius led armies in support of his father's claim to supreme power. He won an important naval victory in 306 BC at Salamis against the Ptolemaic fleet. He, along with his father, accepted the title Basileos ("king"), ending the fiction that the Diadochi were ruling a united government. In 305 BC, Demetrius subjected Rhodes to a momumental siege, employing the largest and most elaborate artillery engines and battle towers yet constructed. Ultimately unsuccessful, the siege still won him the epithet Poliorcetes ("besieger"), by which he is still known. He had more success ruling Macedon during 301-288 BC, but his extravagance and capricious nature eventually proved his undoing and he spent his waning years in comfortable Seleucid captivity. Still, the dynasty he established endured in Macedon until 168 BC. This dynamic tetradrachm type was struck at several mints in honor of the great naval victory over Ptolemy at Salamis, with the obverse image of Nike matching closely with the famous marble statue of the winged goddess found at Samothrace and now housed in the Louvre. The reverse image of Poseidon is rendered here in wonderful style, an undeniable masterpiece of anatomical relief sculpture in miniature.

HID09801242017

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