72, Lot: 44. Estimate $1000. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BABYLON. Under Alexander III. Mazaios, Satrap. 331-328 BC. AR Double Shekel (25mm, 17.05 gm). Baal of Tarsos seated left, holding sceptre / Lion walking left; M below. Nicolet-Pierre M5; Price pg. 451; cf. SNG Berry 1456 (no control mark); cf. MIG 5a (same) cf. Babelon, Traité 753, pl. CXIV, 23 (K monogram). Lightly toned VF.

The so-called lion staters of Babylon were an important local component of Alexander the Great's eastern coinage and his Hellenistic policy of uniting Persian and Greek cultures. Based on a Cilician prototype featuring Baal of Tarsos, these coins were introduced by Alexander and struck in Babylon for nearly half a century. Early issues belong to the Babylonian satrapies of Mazaios (331-328) and his successor, Mazakes. Later issues with a pentagram or anchor above the lion may have been struck under the second satrapy Seleukos, who was satrap of Babylon from 321-317/6 and from 312 onward. Most scholars favor the second satrapy for Seleukos' lion staters. The denomination is usually described as a stater or tetradrachm (since its weight corresponds to such a denomination in the Attic standard), but most likely this coin's denomination is two-shekels (based on the Babylonian standard of ca. 8.4 grams for a shekel). Historically, the earliest pieces are linked with the 5-shekel and 2-shekel 'Poros' coinages of Alexander.