Interregnum Drachm

170, Lot: 116. Estimate $100. Sold for $150. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. In the name of Antiochos IV Epiphanes. 175-164 BC. AR Drachm (17mm, 4.08 g). Antioch mint. Posthumous issue, struck 146-145 BC. Diademed head right / Nude Apollo seated left on omphalos, holding arrow in right hand, left hand resting on bow; A in exergue. Morkholm, “Posthumous Issue of Antiochus IV” Num Chron 1960, 10; SC 1886j; SNG Spaer -; SMA -. Good VF, dark deposits on the reverse.

According to Mørkholm, this issue was struck at Antioch during the interregnum between the flight of the unpopular Alexander I Balas late in 146 or early 145, and the acceptance of the equally unloved Demetrios II shortly thereafter. Although Antiochos had died in 174 with the nickname “Epimanes” (The Insane), the chaos of the following decades had left him with a noticeably improved legacy, and the civic officials of Antioch used his image until the succession could be decided.