SELEUKID KINGS. Seleukos II Kallinikos, 246-225 BC. Drachm (Silver, 18 mm, 4.06 g, 11 h), Uncertain mint. Helmeted head of Athena to right. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ - ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ Nike standing front, head to left, holding wreath in her right hand and palm in her left; to outer left, monogram; to outer right, monogram. SC -, cf. 765 (for type) and 741 (similar monogram to outer left, Apollo type, uncertain mint 44 in Mesopotamia). Apparently unpublished and unique, a highly interesting issue. Minor die break on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine.


In silver, this type has hitherto been known only from the mint of Seleukeia on the Tigris (SC 765). This unpublished example was clearly struck at a different, as yet unidentified mint, as indicated by differences in both engraving style and flan preparation. Its style is less refined than that of the issues from Seleukeia on the Tigris, and the die engraver has depicted Nike with only a single wing - a notable departure from the standard iconography. Nike is also shown crowning the king’s name, whereas on the known examples of SC 765 she holds the wreath above the outer monogram. The bevelled edge of the flan on the obverse and its concavity on the reverse are features noted by Houghton and Lorber as fairly common among tetradrachms attributed by them to uncertain mints in Mesopotamia (see pp. 265 and 269; cf. also SC 730 and 741–743).