Lot 45
Pergamene Kingdom. Philetairos. Silver Tetradrachm (16.52 g), 282-263 BC. Ca. 269/8-263 BC. Diademed head of Seleukos I right. Reverse: ΦIΛETAIPOY, Athena seated left, supporting shield set on ground before her, spear cradled in arm and resting elbow on small statue of sphinx; in field, monogram. SC 309.4; SNG BN 1602. Rare. Pleasing bold realistic portrait. Lightly toned. Very Fine/ Fine. Estimated Value $1,500 - UP
The obverse portrait of this coin should be familiar to anyone who has ever looked up a coin in Arthur Houghton and Catherine Lorber's Seleucid Coins: A Comprehensive Catalogue, Part 1, since it is the same image of Seleukos I Nikator, the founder of the Seleukid Empire, that appears on the dust jacket. Ironically, as anyone who has read the sale description of this coin will know, the coin is not actually a Seleukid royal issue, but rather an issue of Philetairos, the powerful dynast of Pergamon as a sign of his (opportunistic) loyalty to the Seleukos after the fall of his chief rival, Lysimachos.In 301 BC, Alexander the Great's successor, Lysimachos, placed Philetairos in command of the fortress at Pergamon and its treasury of 9,000 talents of silver. Despite being derided as a eunuch from the small town of Tieion in Pontos, Philetairos was politically very savvy. When plotting within the family of Lysimachos caused him to execute his widely respected son, Agathokles, in 281 BC, Philetairos used the situation to raise a revolt in Western Asia Minor and invited Seleukos I to be the real muscle of the rebellion and take over Lysimachos' possessions once he was defeated. Events played out just as the commander of Pergamon had hoped and Lysimachos was defeated and killed at the Battle of Koroupedion, leaving Seleukos I the new master of western Asia Minor.Philetairos' tetradrachm here honors the victor of Koroupedion with an evocative diademed portrait - the earliest completely indisputable image of Seleukos I - while the reverse retains a familiar though not identical duplication of the Athena reverse that had been popularized by the coinages of Lysimachos. As it turned out, things went even better for Philetairos than he had planned. A year after the fall of Lysimachos, Seleukos I was dead at the hands of the murderous Ptolemy Keraunos and the Seleukid Empire was beginning to show signs of disintegration. All of this turmoil allowed Philetairos to consolidate his power locally and plant the firm foundation for the Attalid dynasty that would rule Pergamon and ultimately most of Asia Minor until 133 BC.
Peter Corcoran Collection, Purchased privately from Harlan J. Berk in April 1994.
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| Realized $3,600 |
