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Splendid Samos Silver Tetradrachm
202
Islands off Ionia, Samos. Silver Tetradrachm (15.41 g), ca. 408/4-380/66 BC. Pythes, magistrate. Facing
lion’s scalp. Rev.
SA
, forepart of bull right; to left, laurel branch; above, magistrate’s name:
PUQHS
; all
within shallow incuse square. Cf. Barron 147 (same obv. die, magistrate’s name
PUQIWN
); HGC 6, 1218.
Rare.
Pleasing light antique silver tone. Nearly Extremely Fine.
$3,000
From the Dionysus Collection
Ex G. Hirsch 263 (2009), lot 2413.
Incredible Quality Smyrna Silver Tetradrachm
203
Ionia, Smyrna. Silver Tetradrachm (16.68 g), ca. 155-145 BC. Posidonios, magistrate. Turreted head of
Tyche right. Rev. ZMYP/NAI
W
N in two lines above magistrate’s monogram; all within wreath. Milne
145; SNG von Aulock 2161. Struck in high relief with a lovely light iridescent tone. A truly magnificent
example. Nearly Mint State.
$5,000
From the Dionysus Collection
Ex Leu 52 (15 May 1991), lot 94.
This coin belongs to a class of tetradrachms primarily struck by cities of western Asia Minor around the mid-second cen-
tury BC and easily distinguished by the wreath border on the reverse. Such wreath-bearing tetradrachms derived their re-
verse border from the influential New Style Athenian tetradrachms known as stephanophoroi (“wreath-bearers”). Many
of the wreath-bearing coinages of western Asia Minor may have been produced under the influence of Attalos II
(160-138 BC) as financial support for his foreign policy. Hoard evidence strongly suggests that some were used to under-
write the invasion of Syria by the Attalid-backed Seleukid pretender, Alexander Balas, in 150 BC. This issue of Smyrna pre-
dates Attalus’ intervention in Seleukid affairs, but it probably served similar purposes abroad. Its reduced Attic weight
made it more acceptable in international trade than the greatly overvalued cistophoric tetradrachm of the Attalid kingdom.