Exemplary Alexander Portrait
KINGS of THRACE, Macedonian. Lysimachos. 305-281 BC. AR Tetradrachm (30mm, 17.45 g, 1h). Pergamon mint. Struck 287/6-circa 282 BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon; K below / Athena Nikephoros seated left, left arm resting on shield, spear behind; crescent to outer left, cult image to inner left, EΠ monogram in exergue. Thompson 224; Arnold-Biucchi,
Pergamene 55–6 (obv. die 10); Müller –. In NGC encapsulation 4629121-023, graded MS
★, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 4/5, Fine Style. Deeply struck from dies of exemplary style, with lustrous surfaces. Only a few light marks from perfection.
Lysimachos tetradrachms struck in Pergamon during that ruler’s hegemony of western Asia Minor are rightly regarded among the first truly great Hellenistic portrait types. The engraver responsible for this remarkable head of the deified Alexander the Great, with its deep-set, upward-gazing eye and soulful expression, was clearly an artist of singular talent. The mint’s reputation for extraordinary die work carried over into the subsequent era of Philetairos and the Attalid rulers, whose coin portraiture achieved similar heights.
