Kingdom of Macedon Distater "Alexander the Great" NGC AU 5x2
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KINGS OF MACEDON ALEXANDER III THE GREAT ***LIFETIME*** IN AU!! SOLD for $65k in 2021!!!
Group C only 17 known of this die variety!!
Obv: Head of Athena facing right, wearing a crested Corinthian helmet adorned with a coiled serpent, along with pendant earring and beaded necklaces.
Rev: ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, Nike advancing left, extending a laurel wreath of victory and holding stylis; thunderbolt in left field. Price 163; Troxell, Studies, Group C, 545 (same dies). NGC AU (Strike: 5/5, Surface: 2/5) Very rare.
Provenance:
Ex Dr. Hans Krähenbühl Collection (Leu Numismatik AG 8, 23 October 2021), lot 48 sold $65,000
Münzen & Medaillen AG FPL 227 (November 1962), no. 434.
The golden distaters of Alexander the Great and his immediate successors were among the most prestigious and powerful issues of the ancient world. Known to the ancients themselves as chrysoi alexandreioi megaloi (“the great gold staters of Alexander”), these imposing coins were valued at five Attic tetradrachms or forty drachms, a staggering denomination that would have been reserved not for daily commerce, but for major payments: gifts to generals, rewards for loyalty, or perhaps even diplomatic tributes. Their sheer weight and artistry broadcasted the supremacy of Macedon across the far-flung empire carved out by Alexander.
Struck at Amphipolis—a city of immense strategic importance, controlling both the gold mines of Thrace and access to the Aegean—this coin was minted in the turbulent years following Alexander’s death in 323 BC. Authority fell to his half-brother Philip III Arrhidaios, a ruler in name only, while real power was exercised by regents like Antipater and Polyperchon. It was during this uncertain interregnum, with Alexander’s empire fracturing among ambitious generals, that this rare issue emerged.
The iconography speaks volumes. Athena, goddess of war and wisdom, appears resplendent in her Corinthian helmet, coiled serpent at her temple evoking divine protection and martial cunning. On the reverse, Nike, the winged goddess of victory, extends a wreath—a reminder of Alexander’s countless triumphs from the plains of Issus to the heart of Persia, from Egypt to the Indus Valley. The thunderbolt, sacred to Zeus, symbolizes the divine sanction of Macedonian kingship, as though Alexander himself still reigned through the coinage that bore his name.
What makes this coin especially significant is its place within Troxell’s rare Group C of distater issues—struck in extremely limited numbers, likely for a specific ceremonial or political purpose. Only seventeen examples were known to Troxell, and the die links confirm an unusually concentrated output. These were not coins for the marketplace; they were instruments of power, prestige, and propaganda.
Alexander the Great’s conquests redrew the map of the ancient world. He toppled the Persian Empire, founded more than 20 cities (most famously Alexandria), spread Hellenic culture across three continents, and inspired legends that endured for millennia. Even in death, his image and name continued to dominate coinage from Greece to Asia. This golden distater is not merely currency—it is a portable monument to the man whom Plutarch called “a lover of Homer,” the king who wept because there were no more worlds to conquer.
In modern collections, such pieces stand as among the most evocative relics of Alexander’s legacy—linking us directly to the epoch when a young Macedonian king remade the ancient world and declared himself not only lord of Asia, but son of Zeus himself.
Group C only 17 known of this die variety!!
Obv: Head of Athena facing right, wearing a crested Corinthian helmet adorned with a coiled serpent, along with pendant earring and beaded necklaces.
Rev: ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, Nike advancing left, extending a laurel wreath of victory and holding stylis; thunderbolt in left field. Price 163; Troxell, Studies, Group C, 545 (same dies). NGC AU (Strike: 5/5, Surface: 2/5) Very rare.
Provenance:
Ex Dr. Hans Krähenbühl Collection (Leu Numismatik AG 8, 23 October 2021), lot 48 sold $65,000
Münzen & Medaillen AG FPL 227 (November 1962), no. 434.
The golden distaters of Alexander the Great and his immediate successors were among the most prestigious and powerful issues of the ancient world. Known to the ancients themselves as chrysoi alexandreioi megaloi (“the great gold staters of Alexander”), these imposing coins were valued at five Attic tetradrachms or forty drachms, a staggering denomination that would have been reserved not for daily commerce, but for major payments: gifts to generals, rewards for loyalty, or perhaps even diplomatic tributes. Their sheer weight and artistry broadcasted the supremacy of Macedon across the far-flung empire carved out by Alexander.
Struck at Amphipolis—a city of immense strategic importance, controlling both the gold mines of Thrace and access to the Aegean—this coin was minted in the turbulent years following Alexander’s death in 323 BC. Authority fell to his half-brother Philip III Arrhidaios, a ruler in name only, while real power was exercised by regents like Antipater and Polyperchon. It was during this uncertain interregnum, with Alexander’s empire fracturing among ambitious generals, that this rare issue emerged.
The iconography speaks volumes. Athena, goddess of war and wisdom, appears resplendent in her Corinthian helmet, coiled serpent at her temple evoking divine protection and martial cunning. On the reverse, Nike, the winged goddess of victory, extends a wreath—a reminder of Alexander’s countless triumphs from the plains of Issus to the heart of Persia, from Egypt to the Indus Valley. The thunderbolt, sacred to Zeus, symbolizes the divine sanction of Macedonian kingship, as though Alexander himself still reigned through the coinage that bore his name.
What makes this coin especially significant is its place within Troxell’s rare Group C of distater issues—struck in extremely limited numbers, likely for a specific ceremonial or political purpose. Only seventeen examples were known to Troxell, and the die links confirm an unusually concentrated output. These were not coins for the marketplace; they were instruments of power, prestige, and propaganda.
Alexander the Great’s conquests redrew the map of the ancient world. He toppled the Persian Empire, founded more than 20 cities (most famously Alexandria), spread Hellenic culture across three continents, and inspired legends that endured for millennia. Even in death, his image and name continued to dominate coinage from Greece to Asia. This golden distater is not merely currency—it is a portable monument to the man whom Plutarch called “a lover of Homer,” the king who wept because there were no more worlds to conquer.
In modern collections, such pieces stand as among the most evocative relics of Alexander’s legacy—linking us directly to the epoch when a young Macedonian king remade the ancient world and declared himself not only lord of Asia, but son of Zeus himself.
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