Alexander III “the Great,” silver drachm, Colophon (Ionia), c. 323 – 310 BC

Alexander III “the Great,” silver drachm, Colophon (Ionia), c. 323 – 310 BC; 4.21 g, 17 mm, die axis 12 h. Obverse: youthful head of Herakles right, wearing lion-skin headdress with paws knotted at neck. Reverse: ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ down the right field, Zeus Aëtophoros seated left on backless throne, holding eagle on outstretched right hand and sceptre in left; in left field a tall palm-tree; monogram beneath the throne. Price 1748; ADM II 80; cf. Müller 202. Attractive mid-grey tone, even wear on high points, reverse types clear and the palm-tree emblem fully legible; good very fine for this scarce Colophonian emission.

After Alexander’s death in 323 BC the Colophon mint, controlled first by the regent Perdikkas and later by Antigonos Monophthalmos, struck drachms on the Attic weight standard for regional commerce in western Asia Minor. The palm-tree device served as a local civic badge, alluding either to Apollo of Claros or to the abundant date-palms for which the Caÿster plain was noted. Like other posthumous Alexandrine issues the coin retained Herakles and Zeus to advertise continuity of imperial authority, while subtle mint marks such as the palm allowed contemporaries to distinguish its place of origin within a widely circulating, standardised currency system.