Asia Minor, Pamphylia, Aspendos, 5th-4th cent. B.C., AR Obol

Gorgoneion
Rv. Head of Athena l.

Asia Minor, Ionia, Phocaea, 350-340 B.C., EL Hekte

Female head with laurel wreath, hair in sakkos

Rs.Quadratum incusum quartered in four

Term:
The sakkos, the woman's bonnet, was worn in Greece in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. 

Asia Minor, Mysia, Parium, 5th cent. B.C., AR Drachma

Gorgoneion
Rs.Quadratum Incusum with crosses, globe in the middle

Greece, Attica, Athens, 5th cent. BC, AR Tetradrachma

Head of Athena

Rs.Owl with olive twig and crescent moon in quadratum incusum

Older type

Please note: Archive image: You order the respective coin type in comparable condition, not the coin(s) shown. Upon request, we will gladly send you photos of the coin to be purchased, please contact us.

Macedonia, Philipp II., 359-336 v.Chr., AU 1/4 Stater

Head of Heracles with lionskin r.

Rs.Club and bow, beneath trident

Historical

Quote: "With King Philip, the Macedonian people take the lead in the history of antiquity (...). It is a young people without history that owes its rise to the great ruler Philip II" (Bengtson 1986: 277).

Philip II. (* c. 382 BC; † 336 BC) was King of Macedonia from 359 to 336 BC and the father of Alexander the Great.

Philip was probably born in 382 BC, the son of Amyntas III and Eurydice I. He spent several years in his youth. In his youth, he spent several years as a hostage in Thebes, where he came into contact with Greek culture for the first time - and in a formative way for himself. After the death of the Macedonian king at the time, Perdiccas III, Philip took over the guardianship of his son Amyntas and defended the country from invading neighbouring peoples on his behalf.

Finally, in 359 BC, he was given the power of government because of his services to the defence of Macedonia.
As King Philip II, he succeeded in conquering and pacifying the countries bordering Macedonia (Thessaly, Thrace, Illyria) by 338 BC.

The Greek poleis recognised the danger posed to them by an expanding Macedonia and joined forces in 340 BC in the so-called Hellenic League against Philip II. The decision between Greeks and Macedonians was made in 338 BC in the Battle of Chaironeia, which Philip won.

The result of the ensuing peace negotiations between the warring parties was the Corinthian League of 337 BC. All Greek poleis except Sparta recognised the Macedonian king as hegemon and were thus able to maintain their autonomy on the basis of a general peace. One of the first decisions of this alliance was to launch a Persian campaign, for which an advance guard of 10,000 men was sent to Asia Minor in 336 BC.

Philip himself is assassinated before the actual war begins in 336 BC.

His sudden death will be "one of the reasons (...) that Philip paled all too soon behind Alexander or else is understood merely as a precursor to him" (Wirth 1985: 169).

Italy, Sicily, city Himera, before 413 BC, AE Hemilitron

Obv.Head of Gorgo from the front

Rev.6 pellets

Syria
AR tetradrachm
Seleucus II Kallinikos (246-226 BC)
Obv.: Diad. Head right
Rev.: Apollo with arrow supported on tripod

His epithet means "The Triumphant", in real life he could claim only a few victories. Buy a tetradrachm of Seleucus II.

Under him began in the east and west the splintering of the peripheral areas of the Seleucid Empire. Even though he was able to hold his own against Ptolemy III in the Laodicean War, the ruler suffered considerable territorial losses. Even his own family fought against him and so Seleucus was defeated by Antiochos in the fratricidal war. Antiochos was later defeated in Mesopotamia by Seleucus' commanders. In 226 the king died in a fall from his horse.

Greece, Attica - owl, AR Tetradrachm (5. Jh.v.Chr.) - Top conservation !!

Obv.: Head of Athena

Rev.: Owl with olive branch and crescent moon in quadratum incusum

EVERY COIN IS UNIQUE !!!  Please note: The coin supplied may differ minimally from the one shown!

You will also receive: an exclusive case and a certificate of authenticity!

Historical 

The tetradrachm or tetradrachmon (ancient Greek τετράδραχμον; also tetrachmon) is a coin of four drachms and is considered the most important large silver coin of the states of ancient Greece. Tetradrachms were minted from the end of the 6th century BC until the Roman imperial period; they were even in use in isolated cases until the 3rd century AD. In Athens they were introduced around 530/520 BC. The mass of the tetradrachms was typically between 14 and a good 17 g. A craftsman of the 5th to 4th century BC had to work about four days to produce one tetradrachm.

Athena
Athena (honorary title: Pallas Athena) is a goddess of Greek mythology. She is the goddess of wisdom, strategy and battle, art, craftsmanship and manual labour, and of course the patron goddess and namesake of the Greek city of Athens.

The Owl 
Descriptions of the owl can already be found in Aristotle, the first scientific treatise in Pliny. In Greece, the owl - more precisely, the little owl (Athene noctua) was well regarded and considered a bird of wisdom, chosen by the goddess Athena, the protector of Athens and goddess of wisdom. On Greek coins, Athena's head was depicted on the obverse. As the heraldic bird, the little owl with olive branch and moon adorned the reverse of the tetradrachms. The coins were therefore also called "owls" for short. Since Athens was very rich and a large number of these "owls" were present there, even today "carrying owls to Athens" means doing something nonsensical or superfluous. The comedy poet Aristophanes coined this saying around 400 BC, which is still known today. The owl was also a protector and accompanied armies to war. In addition, the owl in Greece also symbolised science and prudence.
 
 

The olive branch
According to legend, Heracles brought the wild olive tree to Olympia, where the victors of the games were honoured with its branches. In general, the olive branch, which also adorns Zeus and Athena, is a symbol of victory and peace as well as long-lasting strength and power. 

Greece, Macedonia, Philipp II, AR tetradrachm, 359-336 BC

Laureated head of Zeus r.
Rv. Undressed horseman with palmtwig. Mintmark dolphin, thunderbolt, H. 

Minting place: Thrace, city of Amphipolis.

Thrace, Olbia, 5./4. cent. B.C., AE Dolphin

Numismatic rarity in a set of 3 pieces of so-called dolphin money

Historical

Dolphin money originates in particular from Olbia, an ancient Thracian city settlement at the mouth of the river Bug on the coast of the Black Sea (today Ukraine). The city of Olbia is mentioned by Herodotus in connection with a caravan route to Inneraisen as well as an amber road from Samland to Greece.

The so-called dolphin money was minted in the period around the 5th - 4th century BC and represents an interesting transitional form between standardised coinage and bronze ingots within the development of coinage. A dolphin coin weighs between 2.00g and 4.23 grams, which corresponded to the weight unit of the drachms of Athens, and is between approx. 25 - 32mm long. Some of the small dolphins have the inscription - APIXO - on the reverse, which refers to the issuing mint. The inscription thus turns the ingot into a coin.

Dolphins were very well known and popular in ancient Greek culture. There are several stories that emphasise the special nature of these animals that live in the sea, and they even assume a god-like position. Symbolically, they were attributed to the gods Apollo, Dionysus, Aphrodite and especially Poseidon, the god of the sea. For sailors and fishermen in particular, dolphins represented a good omen and, as kings of the sea, were synonymous with wisdom, beauty, intelligence, strength, philanthropy, joie de vivre, harmony, freedom, joy, loyalty, love and music.

Please note:

Each antique coin was individually struck by hand. Therefore, the coins delivered may differ from those shown here.

You are buying the same type of coin in the same condition, not the piece shown.