Akanthos_Tetradrachm_Obv_

A beautiful composition, and with wonderful toning!

The image of a lion attacking a bull is thought to be of Persian influence and is found in a carving in Persepolis which is still extant. For the Persians the image represented the eternal battle between the sun (lion) and the moon (bull). As a coin design it is found on coins of Tarsos in Cilicia, Byblos of Phoenicia, and Akanthos of Macedon before Alexander III "the Great". It largely disappears on coinage except for some provincial coins of Hadrian minted in Tarsos after Alexander's conquest of Persia and its satraps. -h

Looking at this coin makes me speechless.

WR Hearst expressed the ideal of collecting most eloquently in the video lecture you linked and this coin in the field of numismatics comes the closest to satisfying his criteria. I'm not surprised you like it. -h

A raking light gives this excellent rendering of the high relief - almost 3D picture!

 

Jerome

The relief is quite high and the picture is an accurate representation of this coin in hand. This is not always so with numismatic photography, but this picture is the way the coin looks. -h