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KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander III ‘the Great’. 336-323 BC. AV Stater (18mm, 8.61 g, 12h). Tarsos mint. Struck under Balakros or Menes, circa 332/1-327 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet decorated with a coiled serpent with a star within the coil, and pearl necklace / AΛEΞANΔPOY, Nike standing left, holding wreath in extended right hand and cradling stylis in left arm; wreath below right wing. Price 3456A (Sidon); Newell, Dated 1, Type B, dies B/β (Sidon); ANS inv. 1965.77.87 (same dies); Berlin obj. no. 18251308 (same dies). In NGC encapsulation 2413197-006, graded MS, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 4/5. Well centered. Very rare, only two in Pella (erroneously placed under Price 3456; including the sole example cited by Newell), none in CoinArchives, and none in the ANS Photofile.
This issue was originally given to Sidon by Newell, along with seven other issues of staters (and two distaters) that lacked the mint signature and/or date that is found on nearly all other issues at Sidon. Newell later doubted the attribution, and suggested they may belong to an early mint at Damaskos (cf. G.F. Hill, “Alexander the Great and the Persian lion-gryphon,” JHS 43 [1923], p. 159). While Price retained Newell’s original attribution, he, too, remained skeptical (Price, p. 436). Le Rider, in his recent review of the coinage of Alexander the Great (Alexander the Great: Coinage, Finances, and Policy [Philadelphia, 2007]), recounted the various arguments, but also assimilated more recent research, and convincingly argues that these eight issues of gold actually were the first issues of Alexander type staters at the mint of Tarsos (Le Rider, op. cit., pp. 134–9).
The reattribution to Tarsos has a significant effect on the importance of these staters. It is generally thought that Alexander began issuing his new coinage, staters of Athena/Nike type and tetradrachms of Herakles/Zeus type, shortly after his capture of Tarsos in 333 BC. Recognizing the importance of this mint for Alexander, supported by the state of the evidence at the time, Newell originally attributed a large series of staters to the early period of Alexanders at Tarsos (E.T. Newell, “Tarsos under Alexander,” AJN 52 [1918]). Later research, however, moved nearly all of these issues to a mint in Macedon (cf. Price p. 371, and Troxell, Studies, pp. 99–110). This void of gold coinage is therefore filled with the reattribution of the eight issues from Sidon, resulting in these being not only the first issue of Alexander staters from Tarsos, but the first issues of Alexander's new stater coinage anywhere.
The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 124 lots will be determined during the live online sale that will be held on 19-20 September 2023. This lot is in Session One, which will begin 19 September at 9 AM ET.
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