196, Lot: 51. Estimate $200. Sold for $500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochos I Soter. Joint reign with Seleukos I, 294-281 BC. AR Drachm (16mm, 4.06 g, 7h). Ekbatana mint. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; in left field, monogram above lion forepart left; monogram below throne. SC 211.2b; ESM 509; Houghton 1134. VF, a few light scratches on obverse. Well centered. Very rare Alexandrine type in the name of Antiochos I.

Ex John L. Warner Collection (Heritage, 11 January 2003), lot 14281; Classical Numismatic Group 41 (19 March 1997), lot 660.

By 294 BC, the pressures on the overstretched Seleukid Empire were such that Seleukos I had to elevate his elder son, Antiochos, to co-regent, responible for the eastern dominions. In SC, Houghton and Lorber contend that the numismatic and historical evidence suggest that Antiochos' Alexander-type coinage was issued during this coregency, rather than at the beginning of Antiochos' sole reign.