ASIA MINOR. Uncertain mint. Ca. 275-240 BC. AR tetradrachm (28mm, 11h). NGC VF, test cut, graffiti, scratches. Head of Heracles right, wearing lion skin headdress, paws tied before neck / AΛEΞANΔPOY / BAΣIΛEΩΣ, Zeus seated left on backless throne, right leg drawn back, feet on stool, eagle in right hand, scepter in left. Price -. Alexander tetradrachms that show no control symbol or letters other than the basic coin types are surprisingly rare and scant in the academic references. Price lists only 10 different issues with no control marks out of more than 2,000 different varieties of tetradrachms and Price 1275A (Sinope?, ca. 275 BC) and 1321 (Uncertain Black Sea, ca. 250-200 BC) are the only official ones with the royal title Basileus. Stylistically this coin is earlier than Price 1321, and displays an unusual configuration of two vertical legends not otherwise found for Alexander outside the Black Sea region. The examples of price 1275A in sales archives are quite different from the present example and universally display a throne as opposed to a backless seat, with one exception - The New York Sale XXXIV (6 January 2105), lot 87. Both coins were struck from dies of the same celator, but both are from different obverse and reverse pair. One would expect other examples to eventually come to light, but for now these two enigmatic pieces stand apart from some uncertain mint.

HID09801242017

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