KINGS OF MACEDON. Alexander III ‘the Great’, 336-323 BC. Stater (Gold, 19 mm, 8.46 g, 11 h), Alexandria Troas, circa 230. Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet decorated with a coiled serpent. Rev. AΛEΞANΔΡ[OΥ] Nike standing front, head to left, with her wings spread, holding laurel wreath in her right hand and stylis in her left; in field to left, horse grazing left above monogram of KA; to lower left, monogram of KAT (?). Price -, cf. 1591 = Bellinger, Troy p. 92 and pl. 16, A126 (same obverse die, but differing monograms and position of horse). Of the highest rarity, apparently the second known gold stater from this mint. Faint marks and struck from slightly worn dies and with very light doubling on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine.


Price and Bellinger knew of only a single stater from Alexandria Troas, struck from the same obverse die as the present coin. Interestingly, the control marks on that piece – the grazing horse, the emblem of the city, and two monograms – appear in identical form on tetradrachms of Antiochos Hierax (circa 242–227 BC) from Alexandria Troas. The two staters known to date can therefore be dated to the third quarter of the 3rd century BC, though it remains unclear why Alexandria Troas struck what was evidently an extremely limited gold issue at this time; it may have been a one-off emergency issue produced in response to an otherwise undocumented crisis.