20090824

Greece/Seleucid; Antiochus III BCE 223-187


AE 21 mm, 8.92 g, 21 mm, 11h, Uncertain Mint 59, Military mint in Coele Syria, Producing Elephant bronzes during the Fifth Syrian War, From BCE 202-198

SC 1084e, ESM 656, SNG Spaer 819-821

O: Laureate hd r. of Antiochus III as Apollo, dotted border.
R: BAΣIΛΕΩΣ above, ANTIOXOY below, Elephant r. with mahout, dotted. border.

Symbol to l: tripod
Controls under Elephant’s belly: Obliterated by c/m.
Countermarks: Horse Hd in rectangular punch under elephant’s belly, Anchor in rectangular punch usually above elephant’s hindquarters.


Cf. SC I, pp. 411-412 for additional information.

According to SC I, Appendix 2, pp. 66-68, "The...bronzes were apparently countermarked first with a horse head, and later with an anchor, to make them "equivalent" to later issues of similar type that had these symbols in the die. The countermarking was probably an aspect of currency regulation by the military: The Seleucid army needed to impose the use of this fiduciary coinage on the population of Ptolemaic Coele Syria during the Fifth Syrian War in order to ensure provisions for its troops." (p. 66)