Frank, Ι really share your enthusiasm about that
quality coin of yours.
Lifetime AR
tetradrachm issues of
Philip II are of exquisite beauty, no matter whether they bear the
King or the
Youth Rider
reverse.
I like the
Youth Rider more, (that is one of the reasons I collect the Apollo/Youth Rider AE units of the series), but that is personal, totally subjective, thus respectable. (my own
Youth Rider
tetradrachm is what follows below,
Pella mint, 342-336 BC)
What's undisputable, is the world of difference between the lifetime and the later
posthumous emissions of the
type.
Lifetime are simply much better. Dies of high artistic
merit, better strikes, higher relief.
It is clear that, trying hard to show off, to pass and ultimately to impose
his Greek character, Philip was especially interested
in the aesthetic aspect of
his coins and also in the propaganda and psychological effects they would have on the rest of the Greek world
and especially on "those snob, democratic Athenians" and on "the more barbarian" people than himself...
All the best,
rover
