Extremely Rare ‘Soter’ Type

199, Lot: 302. Estimate $150. Sold for $725. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochos I Soter. 281-261 BC. Æ 16mm (4.05 g, 1h). Mint associated with Antioch. Struck during the interregnum after the death of Antiochos II, circa 246-244 BC. Diademed head of Antiochos I right / [Σ]ΩTHPO[Σ] ANTIOXO[Y], anchor between caps of the Dioskouroi; monogram to right. SC 642. VF, green patina, obverse a little off center. Extremely rare.

From the D. Alighieri Collection.

A power struggle followed the death of Antiochos I in 246 BC. Berenike of Egypt, wed to Antiochos as a condition of a peace treaty in 252 BC, made a claim to the throne for her son Antiochos. She was challenged by Seleukos II, son of Antiochos’ first wife Laodice, prompting Ptolemy III, brother of Berenike, to come to his sister’s aid. An uprising in Alexandreia demanded Ptolemy’s withdrawal, however, and Seleukos seized control and had Berenike and her infant son killed. This coinage was struck, probably at a mint closely associated with Antioch, between the death of Antiochos I and the accession of Seleukos II.