397, Lot: 220. Estimate $300. Sold for $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

UNCERTAIN EAST. 3rd-2nd centuries BC. AR Tetradrachm (25.5mm, 16.55 g, 11h). In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; kerykeion-like device in left field. Price B4 var. (symbol, same obv. die). Good VF, toned. Rare.

From the collection of Dr. Will Gordon. Ex Lanz 138 (26 November 2007), lot 290.

The present coin is part of a series featuring an unusual obverse style and light weight (averaging between 15.5 and 16.5 grams), as well as a variety of symbols in the left field on the reverse: lion-skin over club [Price 4058], dolphin downward [Price 4058A (cf. Lanz 161, lot 15)], wreath [Price B36], two dolphins entwined over wreath [CNG 102, 651], thunderbolt [CNG 90, lot 752, and Rauch Summer Auction 2010, lot 54], and kerykeion-like device [present coin]. While the light weight and style suggest an origin among the eastern Celts, the consistency of the style and good epigraphy suggests a more formally organized mint, unlike definitively Celtic issues that copy Alexanders.