MYSIA. Lampsakos. Memnon of Rhodes, circa 380-333 BC. Chalkous (Bronze, 10 mm, 0.70 g, 6 h), Pseudo-Rhodian type, previously attributed to Megiste. Youthful radiate head of Helios to right. Rev. M - E Rose. Ashton, Memnon 1 (A1/P1). SNG BN -. Very rare - Ashton just knew fourteen examples. Attractive brown patina. Good very fine.

From the collection of a scholar.

Find evidence for this very rare issue of pseudo-Rhodian chalkoi points to a mint in the Troad, probably Lampsakos. R. Ashton, "A Rhodian-type Coinage for Memnon and Mentor?" in "Opuscula Anatolica" in NC 162, 2002, pp. 11-15, suggests they were struck during the time that Memnon of Rhodes, a prominent Greek military commander in the service of the Achaemenid Persians, ruled the city, and were struck in conjunction with the series of rare silver drachms having the head of Helios set on a radiate disk. According to the scholar C. O. Schuster, Memnon was nearly successful in halting Alexander the Great's designs on the Persian Empire, and was arguably his toughest opponent (see Schuster, Carl Otis, "Memnon and Mentor of Rhodes (ca. 380-333, ca. 385-340)" in Conflict in Ancient Greece and Rome: The Definitive Political, Social, and Military Encyclopedia, 2016, pp. 366-7).