TRITON III 617. Antiochos VIII. T h i r d Reign. 108-96 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.15 gm). Antioch mint. Diademed head right / ΒΑΣΙΛΕ[ΩΣ] ΑΝΤΙΟXO[Y] right, ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ left, Zeus enthroned left, holding Nike and sceptre; PEA to left, 4 under throne. Newell, SMA 405; Houghton 346; SNG Spaer 2555 (same obverse die). Attractively toned EF. ($400)
618. K I N G S of COMMAGENE. Antiochos IV. 38-72 AD. JE 26mm (15.46 gm). ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ [ΜΕΓ-ΑΣ] ΑΝ|ΤΙ|ΟΧΟΣ, diademed head right / ΚΟΜΜΑΓ-ΗΝΟΝ, scorpion; all enclosed in wreath. RPC 3857; BMC Gala ha pg. 106, 7. Good VF, dark brown patina. ($500)
614. Antiochos VII. 138-129 BC. AR Tetradrachm (14.10 gm). Sidon mint. Year 177 (136/135 BC). Diademed and draped bust right / ΑΝΤΙOXOY ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, eagle standing left, palm behind right shoulder; IOP and A left, ΣΙΔΟ and aphlaston right. Houghton -; SNG Spaer 1999 var. (different m o n o g r a m ) ; BMC Seleucid Kings pg. 70, 2; Rouvier, "Numismatique des villes de la Phénicie: Sidon," in JIAN 5 (1902), pg, 127, 1259. Toned EF. Attractive. ($750)
Two Early Phoenician Issues
619. PHOENICIA, Byblos. Circa 420 BC. AR Dishekel (13.83 gm). War galley left with a horse figurehead on the prow and a griffin head on the tiller, three hoplites within; hippocamp below / Vulture, with spread wings, standing left on the back of a recumbent ram (which is incuse). Kraay, ACGC, pg. 289/290, pi. 61, 1052; Traité II pg. 535, 858. Toned VF. Extremely Rare. ($2,000)
615. Cleopatra Thea & Antiochos VIII. 125-121 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.36 gm). Antioch mint. Conjoined busts right of Cleopatra, veiled, wearing diadem and Stephane, and Antiochos, diademed / ΒΑΣΙΛ1ΣΣΗΣ ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑΣ right, ΚΑΙ ΒΑ-ΣΙΛΕΩΣ AN-TIOXOY left, Zeus seated left on throne, holding Nike and lotus tipped sceptre; IE outer left, Π under throne. Newell, SMA 361-363 var. (different letters under throne); SNG Spaer 2437-2440 var. (same); Houghton 316 var. (AI under throne). Toned, good VF. Apparently unpublished with a Π under the throne. ($750)
The unusual minting feature, irnth part of the design in relief and part incuse, is known from the mints of Arados, Sidon and Tyre. See the interesting article on this technique by Paul Naster in the Centennial Publication of The American Numismatic Society, pages 503-511. The technique was first used in Tyre in about 450 BC with the city's first coins and lastly at Byblos by King Elpaal circa 400 BC. The reverse of this coin is particularly interesting for its use of ancient Egyptian iconography also found elseivhere on several Phoenician coins. Compare the loalking king wearing the tall white crozvn of Upper Egypt on the reverse of the tetrashekel of Sidon, and the Egyptian οιυΐ holding the royal symbols of a crook and flail on the shekel of Tyre. Here the vulture and the ram represent the two major gods of the Egyptian pantheon: the animal of Amun, the chief of the gods, is a ram while the vulture is the symbol of his wife, the goddess Mut.
616. Antiochos VIII. Second Reign. 121-113 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.04 gm). Ake-Ptolemais mint. Struck circa 115-113 BC. Diademed head right / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ANTIOXOY right, ΕΠΙ-ΦΑΝΟΥΣ left, Zeus Oranios standing left, holding star and sceptre, crescent moon over head; & to left. Newell, LSM 35; I-Ioughton 813; SNG Spaer 2592ff. Toned EF. ($500)
620. Byblos. Circa 420 BC. AR l / 8 t h Shekel (0.77 gm). War galley left with a horse figurehead on the prow and a griffin head on the tiller, three hoplites within; hippocamp below / Vulture standing left on the back of a recumbent ram (which is incuse). BMC Phoenicia pi. 40,11; cf. SNG Fitzwilliam 6027 (Half Shekel). EF. Extremely Rare, and surely one of the finest known of the type. ($1000)
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