Parion (BC 165-160) Tetradrachm

ca 165-160 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.61g, 40mm). Laureate head of Apollo right / ΑΠΟΛΛΟΝΩΣ - ΑΚΤΑΙΟΥ, Apollo Actaeus standing left, holding laurel branch in right hand and resting left on grounded bow; ΔΙ ligate over altar to left, monogram to right, ΠΑΡΙΑΝΩΝ in exergue. Very broad flan, aEF. Extremely rare, only few specimens known.

The only Parion Hellenistic tetradrachms known, until recently, was the extremely rare issue showing veiled head of Demeter on obv. and Apollo Actaeus on rev. holding a phiale above a lighted alter, his left hand resting on a lyre placed on the omphalos, SNG Lewis 829, SNG France 1401 (both broken); L. Robert, Monnaies antiques en Troade, Paris, 1966, p. 43, f. This new and until very recently unrecorded issue was published by A.R. Meadows, NC 1998, pp 42-46. He compares both issues to the coinage of Alexandria Troas and determined that the tetradrachm Apollo/Apollo should be dated at around 165-143 and the tetradrachm Demeter / Apollo at a later date.