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The First 'Alexander'
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Macedonian Kingdom, Tarsos, Alexander III The Great, 336-323 BC, AR Tetradrachm
Head of young Herakles right in lion-skin headdress, paws tied at neck. / ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡOΥ Zeus left seated on a backless throne, eagle in right hand, scepter held in left hand, pellet under throne.
Price 2990; Le Rider Pl. 1, 1 (same obverse die); Newell Tarsos 1 (Newell’s Officina A, dies III/5). Tarsos mint 333/2 BC.
(25 mm, 17.22 gm, 2h)
This coin bears what is variously described as a pellet (Newell), or globule (Price), beneath the throne on which Zeus is seated, with no other mint control marks. It is from the first emission (Newell Tarsos 1) of Alexander tetradrachms from Tarsos, which is now understood to have been the mint from which Alexander the Great produced the first coins of what were to become his distinctive standard type. It comes from the third obverse die made for the type and dates to 333 BC, effectively amongst the first ‘Alexanders’ to be struck. Such being the case, this coin was probably minted in the period Alexander the Great was resident in the city and certainly preceding his advance to the Battle of Issos in November 333 BC.
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