Triton XVII, Lot: 158. Estimate $750. Sold for $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Antigonos I Monophthalmos. As Strategos of Asia, 320-306/5 BC. AR Tetradrachm (28mm, 16.98 g, 11h). In the name of Alexander III. Babylon mint. Struck under Peithon, circa 315-311 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΛEΞANΔPOY, Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; monogram in wreath in left field, monogram below throne. Price 3734 var. (no pellet within P of left field monogram); SNG Alpha Bank 688 var. (same); SNG München –; cf. SNG Saroglos 644. EF, lightly toned.

From the RAJ Collection. Ex Collection C.P.A. (Classical Numismatic Group 78, 14 May 2008), lot 418; Classical Numismatic Group 66 (19 May 2004), lot 253.

After Perdikkas, Antigonos Monophthalmos was perhaps the most powerful of the Diadochs upon Alexander's death. Having been entrusted with overseeing the Macedonian rule in Asia Minor, Antigonos was left in control of vast resources that enabled him to persevere through the wars of the Diadochs. At the height of his power, his territories stretched from the Hellespont to Babylon. While his military prowess was keen, so too were his diplomatic skills. In fact, it was his skill of using the other Diadochs against one another that was more attributable to his success in building his domains than his military victories. By 306 BC, Antigonos was so certain of his dominance that he proclaimed himself king; the first of the Diadochs to do so. It was this event, which he thought to be his triumphant moment, that proved his undoing. From that moment, the other Diadochs clearly saw Antigonos and his son, Demetrios Poliorketes, as their primary opponent. Putting aside their differences for the first time, all the other Diadochs – Ptolemy, Seleukos, and Kassander – joined forces against Antigonos. For a year the allies pressured the Antigonid forces around the Aegaean. Finally, at the battle of Ipsos in 301 BC, Antigonos was defeated by the combined forces of Seleukos and Lysimachos. Antigonos was killed in the battle, but Demetrios was able to escape and continue fighting the others for years, but he never regained the sizeable territory that his father had once ruled.