Description

BITHYNIA, Kalchedon. Circa 260–230s BC. AR Tetradrachm (30mm, 16.96 g, 12h). In the name and types of Lysimachos of Thrace.

Obverse: Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon.
Reverse: Athena Nikephoros seated left, left arm resting on shield, spear behind; monogram to inner left, grain ear and monogram in exergue.

Marinescu Issue 25, 60 (O23/R57); HGC 7, 525.

History & Context: A king’s coin outlives the king

Kalchedon sat on the Asian shore of the Bosporus, facing Byzantion across the strait, and controlled one of the busiest trade routes of the ancient world. Decades after Lysimachos died in 281 BC, the city kept striking silver in his name, with his famous portrait of the deified Alexander wearing the ram’s horn of Zeus-Ammon. Merchants all around the Black Sea trusted the design on sight, so Kalchedon used it as its trade currency. The grain ear in the exergue is the city’s own badge, a nod to the grain trade that passed through its harbor.