Drachm - Lysimachus In the name of Alexander III, Lampsacus

Lysimachus began striking coins in Alexander's name — not his own — as a deliberate political claim to legitimacy following the fragmentation of the empire after Ipsus in 301 BC. Lampsacus, a strategically vital mint on the Hellespont, had been issuing Alexandrine types for decades, and Lysimachus kept it running precisely because control of the straits meant control of Aegean trade revenue. He wouldn't place his own portrait on coinage until around 297 BC, when his position was secure enough to risk the assertion.