KINGS OF MACEDON. Alexander III ‘the Great’, 336-323 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 28 mm, 16.90 g, 12 h), Kyrene, circa 305-290. Head of Herakles to left, wearing lion skin headdress. Rev. AΛEΞANΔPOY Zeus seated left on low throne, holding long scepter in his left hand and eagle standing right with closed wings in his right; to left, monogram of IΠΟ. Price 3986. Very rare. Numerous light marks and minor areas of horn silver and with a scrape on the obverse, otherwise, nearly very fine.


The extraordinarily rare Alexander tetradrachms from Kyrene are immediately recognizable by their striking left-facing Herakles. Alongside tetradrachms, the emission also included exceedingly rare gold staters and half staters in the Alexander-type (cf. Leu 19 (2025), 97) and numbers among the foremost rarities of Kyrenaican coinage, a series otherwise characterized by local types. The circumstances that gave rise to this remarkable issue - and the rationale for the left-facing portrait - are unknown, but it most likely belongs to the early Ptolemaic period.