Lysimachos Tetradrachm

[JayAg47]

One of my dream coins that actually depicts Alexander rather than him as Herakles. I happened to buy this coin for a much less price than the one I posted for recommendations. 

I just love the high relief on these coins, I read somewhere that these high relief meant to actually depict the side profile of the face of a person/statue. So I took a photo of the edge, cropped the image, slightly widened them, copied and pasted another set to make the face. 

Now on to the coin!

Kings of Thrace (Macedonian). Lysimachos, AR Tetradrachm, 16.43 g, 27 mm. 305-281 BC, Sardes mint.

Obv: Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, wearing horn of Ammon.
Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ. Athena seated left on throne, holding Nike and spear over shoulder. ΠPΕ monogram outer left, ΔK monogram in exergue.
Ref: Thompson 86; HGC 3.2, 1750d.

Despite the worn reverse, I managed to attribute the coin, In fact I found the following obverse die-match. 

 

Please post your coins of Lysimachos! 

 

 

 

[Marsyas Mike]

Oooo, I love this coin @JayAg47.  It has been a kind of bucket-list coin for me since the 1980s when I saw it on the cover of one of the Penguin Classics paperbacks:

(photo from Goodreads)

Same guy, but not nearly as pretty, here is one I recently got from an eBay undescribed lot.  It isn't in horrible shape, but unfortunately it has one of those green-brown patinas that looks like duck hunter's camo, making it very hard to see.  The reverse is a trophy arranged to look like Athena, which is kind of interesting:

Kingdom of Thrace   Æ 21 Lysimachos (c. 295/294 - 289/288 B.C.) Uncertain Western Asia Minor  or Uncertain Macedonian Mint Young male head (or Athena) right, wearing Phrygian helmet / [B]AΣIΛ[EΩΣ] ΛYΣIMAXOY, trophy of arms resembling Athena standing left. (6.07 grams / 21 x 20 mm) eBay Oct. 2023 Attribution:  SNG Copenhagen 1164-7; Mueller pl. 2, 13; HGC 3.2, 1755;  Sear SG 6818.  Note:  Wildwinds says obverse head is Athena; auctions say "young male head." Demos, Leu & CNG say "Uncertain mint in Western Asia  Minor" Agora says "Uncertain Macedonian mint, struck 295/4-289/8"

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Marsyas Mike

[CPK]

A great example! Congratulations - I'm glad you were able to find a better one for a cheaper price. 👍

[ambr0zie]

I think the best feeling when buying a coin is when you manage to get a type you lost in the past and you regret it, but another one appears and the deal is better. I personally think it's more satisfactory than getting a bucket list coin from the first try (although that's a great feeling too). 

I had this situation twice. First with a Deultum provincial, Diadumenian with the she wolf reverse. Lost an average example and I kept remembering it. Got a much better example after 1 year. And second with a Caracalla tetradrachm, from Emesa. I had a bidding war, lost it but it kinda haunted me. Just received the type I won in my last auction. Slightly inferior but I like it and it was cheap. These were not extremely rare/expensive coins but I am glad the boxes were ticked. 

As for my Lysimachus silver, it is a drachm. It shows Alexander without the Herakles attributes, but with the horn of Ammon. 

This coin has its story too, I mentioned this before. Bought it by mistake. I was not paying much attention to the auction. The coins I wanted were coming after 200 lots. I was just looking, perhaps a bargain impulse appears. I saw a nice coin and I heard "going once going twice" without bids and I immediately hit Bid. Almost all the lots had the starting price 10 euros so I decided it's a bad idea to leave this coin unsold. I won it. And then noticed the starting price was 100 euros. Initially I banged my head against the desk but then realized this is not such a bad deal. 

18 mm, 4,2 g.
Kings of Thrace. Lysimachos 305-281 BC. AR drachm. Ephesos.
Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, wearing horn of Ammon / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΛYΣIMAXOY, Athena seated left on the throne, holding Nike, crowning the king's name, in her right hand and leaning with her left arm on shield decorated with lion's head, transverse spear with point below, lyre to the inner left field, A under the throne.
Thompson 174; Müller 355.

[JayAg47]

11 hours ago, ambr0zie said:

This coin has its story too, I mentioned this before. Bought it by mistake. I was not paying much attention to the auction. The coins I wanted were coming after 200 lots. I was just looking, perhaps a bargain impulse appears. I saw a nice coin and I heard "going once going twice" without bids and I immediately hit Bid. Almost all the lots had the starting price 10 euros so I decided it's a bad idea to leave this coin unsold. I won it. And then noticed the starting price was 100 euros. Initially I banged my head against the desk but then realized this is not such a bad deal. 

18 mm, 4,2 g.
Kings of Thrace. Lysimachos 305-281 BC. AR drachm. Ephesos.
Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, wearing horn of Ammon / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΛYΣIMAXOY, Athena seated left on the throne, holding Nike, crowning the king's name, in her right hand and leaning with her left arm on shield decorated with lion's head, transverse spear with point below, lyre to the inner left field, A under the throne.
Thompson 174; Müller 355.

I was looking for a drachm, but nowadays even a worn one cost more than hundred and a decent one multiple hundreds! 

[Limes]

Fantastic addition, coingratulations! Its a really nice example. I'd like to add one too, one day, but now they're a bit too expensive to justify to deviate from collecting Roman coins. And I have a drachm of him as Herakles with lion skin, so Im pleased with that for now.