The Seleucid Kings, Antiochus I Soter, 281-261.Al Khanoum Tetradrachm 281-261, AR 25mm., 15.92g. Diademed head r. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕ [ΩΣ − Α]ΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ Horned and bridled horse head r.; in r. field, control mark. ESM 689. SNG Spaer 324. Seleucid Coins 430.2c

Extremely rare. Surface somewhat porous, otherwise About Very Fine.

Ex NAC sale 77, 2014, 78.

One of the most intriguing designs employed on early Seleucid coinage is a horse head with the fanciful, godlike attribute of two bull horns. The type originally was associated with Seleucus I, and subsequently was adopted by his son and successor, Antiochus I. Percy Gardner, writing late in the 19th Century, took a cautious approach to the explanation of this curious design: "We do not know, in the case of the horse's head, either the meaning of the type (with certainty) or the special connection with Seleucus...". In addition, winning bids of EEC clients for this coin are subject to a 5% fee on hammer price as a reimbursement for import duty paid to HMRC. Its first use on a Seleucid coin was as the obverse type of a tetradrachm that on its reverse shows a walking elephant. That remarkable issue appears to have been struck for Seleucus I in 281 B.C. by his ally Philetaerus of Pergamum. The occasion is thought to have been the defeat of Lysimachus at Corupedium, and Mørkholm described the designs as an effort to honor the role played by the Seleucid cavalry and elephant corps in securing victory. Thereafter, the horse-head occurs as a subsidiary mint symbol, and as an occasional reverse type on the gold, silver and copper coins of Antiochus I, some of which were produced in honour of the deified Seleucus I. In these later cases the horse head likely refers to a specific animal. Often it is thought to represent Bucephalus ('ox-head'), the steed of Alexander III that served him so admirably on his campaigns. Houghton and Lorber, following Babelon and Newell, suggest it represents the horse that in 315 B.C. helped to save Seleucus' life by spiriting him from Babylon to Egypt, where he found asylum with Ptolemy I. (This theme may also be represented by the rare Seleucus I tetradrachms that portray on their obverse the head of Heracles and on their reverse a spearman with a horned helmet who rides a horned horse (see Nomos 1, lot 119)). Seleucus showered his horse with extraordinary honors, including deification and the erection at Antioch of a gilded statue that portrayed the animal's head, a helmet, and a dedicatory inscription. It is likely that this type was chosen by Seleucus to reflect the combined legacies of Bucephalus and his own horse. If so, it would be both a personal type for Seleucus and a coveted link to the legacy of Alexander – something that was desired by all of the Diadochi. Except for a single issue of tetradrachms from Sardes that paired the horned head of the deified Seleucus I with the horned horse head, all of Antiochus' gold and silver coins bearing this reverse type were struck at Eastern mints. The main issues were from Ai Kahnoum (or Bactra) and from uncertain, associated mints. An imitative series of barbarous style, copying the official Bactrian issues, is thought to have been struck contemporarily at Samarkand and Bukhara.