Ancient Greece Greco-Bactria Tetradrachm with Antimachos and Poseidon 180BC to 166BC

Sporty headgear distinguishes Antimachos I, king of the Greco-Bactrian (Baktria, Bacteria) empire, a region in modern-day Afghanistan that was under Greek influence 2000+ years ago. That is Poseidon, Greek god of the sea (Roman god Neptune) on the reverse side.

Most of these coins are silver tetradrachms, with a weight of 15 to 17 grams and a diameter of 30 to 34 mm. Sometimes you see small silver drachms (4 grams) or obols (less than 1 gram), which are not as impressive and generally command less value.

These are rare coins. The superb example in our picture comes from Ira and Larry Goldberg in Beverly Hills, California USA, where it sold for $475 US dollars in a 2012 auction. Some auction results go as high as $3000 and low as $150, depending on the overall quality and appeal of the coin. CoinQuest thanks Goldbergs for use of their coin photo.

When dealing with coins like this, each specimen stands on its own merits. Catalog pricing is very, very approximate, and can be used only as a general guide. Our assessment of various auction results gives:

worn: $200 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $500
well preserved: $1000

These are inflated catalog values. Actual buy and sell values are different, as explained on our Terminology page.
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