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GREEK, CSE 937 (this coin); CSE Plate 56, 937 (this coin)
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Seleukid Kingdom, Seleukos I Nikator, 312-281 BC, AR Tetradrachm - Seleukeia on the Tigris
Head of Herakles right wearing lion skin headdress.
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣEΛEYKOY Zeus Nikephoros seated left, NO in left field.
SC 119.3(a); HGC 9, 16f; ESM 23 (same dies A27-P79); CSE 937 (this coin); CSE 2, 58 (AHNS 1047).
Seleukeia on the Tigris mint ca. 300-296 BC.
(25 mm, 16.91 g, 12h).
ex-William K. Raymond Collection; ex- Arthur Houghton Collection.
Some time in the last five years of the fourth century BC the mint at Seleukeia on the Tigris opened to issue coinage in the name of Seleukos. Initial issues maintained the Zeus Aëtophoros (eagle) reverse image. However, shortly thereafter, the Zeus Nikephoros (Nike) image was introduced in parallel with the Aëtophoros image. The Nikephoros reverse was a direct allusion to Seleukos victory over Antigonos at Ipsos in 301 BC. This is one of three known examples of SC 119.3(a). The others are ESM 23 in the Danish national collection Copenhagen and CSE 2, 58 (AHNS 1047). Seleucid Coins lists another from the Tricala 1979 hoard (CH IX, 000) in the Athens Numismatic Museum, but this is in fact an example of ESM 24 (Zeus Aëtophoros) that was incorrectly catalogued as ESM 23 by Oeconomides - refer Oeconomides Pl. 66, 109. All noted examples are from the same obverse die. The obverse of this coin is a die match to that of a Zeus Aëtophoros issue with identical NO primary control which is now found in the Berlin collection (ESM 24; Newell Pl V, 4).
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