Sale: CNG 66, Lot: 262. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2004.  Sold For $7100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Antigonos II Gonatas. 277-239 BC. AV Stater (8.58 gm). Struck circa 276-275 BC. Helmeted head of Athena right; serpent on helmet / BASILEWS ANTIGONOU, Nike standing left, holding wreath and stylis; wreath under left wing. Mathisen pl. 21, 35 = Seltman, Greek Coins pl. 50, 10 (BM specimen; same obverse die); AMNG III 2 = Mionnet Supp. 3, pg. 244, 587 (Antigonos I; same reverse die); Hunterian pg. 336, 1 (Antigonos I); De Luynes 1689. Good VF, light marks in fields. Extremely rare. ($5000)

In 276 BC, Antigonos hired around 7500 Gauls, under the chieftain Biderius, to help in his campaign against Kassander's nephew Antipater Etesias. According to Polyaenus, these mercenaries cost Antigonos thirty talents. To pay this large expenditure, Antigonos struck staters in Alexander's name and a small issue in his own name. This coin is one of the few surviving examples; Mathisen could locate only five specimens, all of which are now in museum collections (all referenced above, except the Vienna specimen).