Alexander The Great Coin
The reverses of Alexander the Great’s coinage were also utilized for the placement of various control marks and symbols alluding to a place of manufacture, a local authority, the date, etc. Dankin's coin bears the inscription 'AΛEΞAN∆POY', and was minted in the name of Alexander III of Macedonia, also known as Alexander the Great. Yes, the Alexander the Great! The coins which have Zeus seated with a bird on the reverse have the helmeted head of Heracles on the obverse. Alexander ruled from 336 to 323 B.C., but these coins.
Before going into detail with this coin, it is a necessity to point out how brilliantly thorough Dankin has been in his description of the coin. Not only is our work made easier from such an excellent description, but it also assures that the coin is identified and attributed as accurately as possible.
Dankin's coin bears the inscription 'AΛEΞAN∆POY', and was minted in the name of Alexander III of Macedonia, also known as Alexander the Great. Yes, the Alexander the Great!
The coins which have Zeus seated with a bird on the reverse have the helmeted head of Heracles on the obverse. Alexander ruled from 336 to 323 B.C., but these coins continued to be minted well after his death, some as late as 250 B.C.
The coins were minted in the drachm and stater denominations. The drachms are silver, while the staters are gold.
DRACHMS:
worn: $50 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $150
well preserved: $300
STATERS:
worn: $1500 approximate catalog value
average circulated: $2200
well preserved: $3000
These coins, especially the staters, are commonly counterfeited. It would be wise to take your coin to a coin shop, where a professional numismatist can examine the coin in-hand, and hopefully determine its authenticity.
Be sure to check out the 'Important Terminology' page on the menu on the top left. The term 'catalog value' is somewhat a weasel word.
Created (yyyymm): 201305, Last review: 201504
Appearance: Normal round coin Metallic gray Metallic yellow Letters: Latin
Years: sort: -336, filter: -336 to -250
Image: ancient_alexander_drachm.jpg
Original inquiry: the coin is bronze or gold looking, and about the size of a dime. i am unsure of the composition. i'm going to use a '?' mark in place of illegible characters in the inscription located on the back of the coin. the following inscription is one word: ?aeianapoy. now i am going to repeat the same inscription with '?' marks representing letters i am unsure of due to wear on the coin ie. (they may be incorrect but i tried my best to guess.) ?a??anapoy. on the back of the coin the mintmark appears to be 'ai' located under the stool i am about to describe. the back of the coin depicts a shirtless man, facing to the left, sitting on a stool with his legs extended, he is wearing slack pants and some kind of small head cover. he appears to have a small beard. in his left hand he is grasping a staff that extends from the top of the coin vertically all the way to the bottom. a small bird is perched on his horizontally extended right arm. below his right arm there is some kind of symbol resembling a figure 8 or a capital cursive letter j. on the front of the coin a left facing womans head dominates the entire surface and is protruding, raised from the face of the coin. she appears to have some kind of headdress. stater drachm alexandroy aeianapoy alexander alexandros anapoy zeus heracles herakles angel god goddess scepter stick rod staff bird small wreath circle ring