NIKOKLES OF PAPHOS (325 - 311/309 B.C), PAPHOS MINT TETRADRACHM.

Paphos mint, 325 - 317 B.C. Silver, 13.31 g, 25.2 mm, 11h. Obv: Head of Herakles facing right, wearing lion skin headdress, [ΝΙΚΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ] in scalp of headdress. Rev: Zeus enthroned facing left, eagle on outstretched right hand, sceptre in left hand, monogram in left field, rose below throne. Price. 3119. Good Very Fine and Excessively Rare.

These tetradrachms were a unique issue. They resembled Alexander's coins but with a hidden detail: Nikokles' name inscribed in tiny letters on the lion skin (Price 3118-3123). Minted likely in the late 320s (based on a hoard buried around 317 BC), these coins hint at Nikokles' ambition for a leadership role in Cyprus, independent of Alexander's dominion and his successors. His aspirations, however, were cut short by Ptolemy I who defeated him in 309 BC.