Alexandreia (BC 300-200) Stater

ca 3rd cent BC. AR Stater (10.62g). Laureate head of Apollo right / ΑΛΕΞΑΝ-ΔΡΕΩΝ, horse grazing right; ΣΙ below. Good VF, traces of undertype visible on reverse. Unpublished and unique.

The earliest coins of Alexandria are bronze issues struck about 300 BC imitating Hamaxitus (Apollo Smitheus) and Hamandria (Apollo/horse feeding). The earliest silver attributable to Alexandria are tetradrachms ca 280-275 in the name of Alexander, which on grounds of style belong to the years after the death of Lysimachus (Price 1588-1590). During the Second Syrian War (260-253) Antiochus II produced an issue of tetradrachms (SNG Spaer 374-376). Another two issues in the name of Alexander followed ca 230 (Price 1591), and again in 189-180 (Price 1592-1598). At some point during the 3rd century BC, an extensive bronze issue was produced (BMC 7-21), to which this previously unknown silver stater belongs, based on the local Persian silver weight standard, obviously intended for local use.