Tetradrachm In the name of Alexander III

Sinope was among the last Greek cities on the Black Sea coast to strike Alexander-type tetradrachms, doing so well after the conquests themselves had ended and the Macedonian empire had fractured among the Diadochi. By the early second century BC, issuing coinage "in the name of Alexander" was less a political statement than a commercial convenience — the type had become the dominant trade currency across the eastern Mediterranean and Pontic regions, and Sinope, as a major hub for Black Sea grain and timber routes, needed compatible currency. Price 1540 is a relatively scarce variety within the posthumous Alexander series.