THRACIAN KINGDOM. Lysimachus (305-281 BC). AV stater (18mm, 8.55 gm, 12h). NGC AU 5/5 - 4/5. Lifetime issue of Alexandria Troas, ca. 297-282 BC. Diademed head of deified Alexander III right, with horn of Ammon / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ, Athena seated left, Nike standing left in outstretched right hand, resting left arm on grounded shield decorated with lion head boss, transverse spear beyond; ΘE monogram in outer left field, cornucopia in inner left field. Müller 96. Meadows, Earliest 33b (A5/P11 - this coin). Thompson 143. High relief and brilliant with apricot patina. Ex Heritage Auctions, Auction 3037 (5 January 2015), lot 30912; B.C. Prichard Collection (Sotheby & Co., 21 February 1929), lot 52; Rous Collection (Bourgey, 29 May 1911), lot 75. Alexander the Great's meteoric 13-year career of conquest left the classical world profoundly transformed by the time of his premature death in 323 BC. In the immediate aftermath, Alexander's generals carved up his immense new empire into spheres of influence, although maintaining the fiction of a unified leadership. Territorial disputes soon led to civil wars, with the rival warlords contending for supreme power. Chief among these was Lysimachus, who at various times controlled Thrace, Macedon, and much of Asia Minor. For the obverse of his coinage, Lysimachus claimed the mantle of Alexander by choosing the image of the conqueror himself, now shown as a god wearing the ram's horn of the Greco-Egyptian deity Ammon. The image is one of the earliest true portraits to appear on a coin, and one of the finest. The reverse, depicting Athena enthroned, likewise proved extremely influential throughout history, forming the archetype for the figure of Britannia on modern English coins. HID09801242017 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

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