★ A very interesting Contorniate showing Alexander III 'the Great' ★

PADUAN MEDALS. Alexander III ‘the Great’, 336-323 BC. 'Contorniate' (Bronze, 38 mm, 31.43 g, 1 h), a late 17th or early 18th century cast. ALIXANDER (sic!) Bust of Alexander to right, wearing lion skin headdress; in field to right, incuse palm frond. Rev. Aerial view of chariot race in the Circus Maximus: spina with obelisk of Augustus flanked by metae, lap-counter and statues; above, two quadrigae in full speed to left; below, two quadrigae to right. Alföldi pl. 10.1-11.5. Good very fine.

Alföldi notes that all 18 recorded examples of this issue are casts made from a lost original. As one example has the d'Este/Gonzaga countermark and another example was present in the collection of Apostolo Zeno (1668-1750), they probably date to the late 17th or early 18th century.