SELEUKID KINGS. Antiochos III ‘the Great’, 222-187 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 34 mm, 16.95 g, 11 h), uncertain mint 57, likely in Phrygia (Synnada?), after circa 203. Diademed head of Antiochos III to right, one diadem end waving upward, the other falling forward over the shoulder; all within filleted border.
Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ - ANTIOXOY Apollo seated left on omphalos, holding arrow in his right hand and resting his left on grounded bow; below, AΣK. SC pl. 50, 1005 (
same dies). WSM -. Very rare. A wonderful coin, beautifully struck in high relief on an exceptionally large flan, and with a magnificent portrait. Some doubling on the reverse
, otherwise, extremely fine.
From the Basileiai Hellēnikai Collection of Exceptional Tetradrachms, ex Beaussant Lefèvre, 7 April 2022, 34 (with French export licence enclosed), previously acquired from J. Vinchon in the 1970s, and likely from the 1953 Ayaz-In Hoard.
Most of the extremely rare tetradrachms from the uncertain mint 57 originate from the 1953 Ayaz-In Hoard. They are notable for their extraordinarily expressive portraits, which set them apart stylistically from other issues of this ruler, and for the distinctive design of the royal diadem and pearl circle. The die cutter devoted considerable effort to the diadem’s two ends, rendering them in remarkable detail with three-pointed spikes, with one end gracefully curving over the king’s shoulder. In doing so, he followed precedents from Antiochia (SC 1044), although the diadem there is not depicted with such precision and elegance. Moreover, the portrayal of the pearl circle as a filleted border is unusual for an Anatolian mint, and in our piece, its perfect centering on an exceptionally broad flan further accentuates the coin's striking visual appeal
