Ancient Olympic Games bronze coin: Kingdom of Macedon, Philip II, ‘A’ Control Mark, 359-336 BC. 19 mm, 6 gm. The front shows a young male head, his hair bound with taenia, facing right; the reverse shows a youthful horseman advancing right, with an ‘A’ control mark beneath the horse. Encapsulated by NGC Ancients and graded ‘F’ with Strike 4/5 and Surface 3/5.
Philip (359-336 BC), the father of Alexander the Great, won in 356 BC the race for horses with rider at Olympia. Philip, and other owners, did not participate in person, but a jockey drove in their place; nevertheless the owners were proclaimed as victors. Four years later he won with a two-horse chariot. He celebrated his victory with coins and by building a tholos at Olympia, where Alexander later put up statues of himself and of his family.
The bronze series of this type is extensive and differentiated principally by the different symbols and letters which appear on the reverse and occasionally on the obverse. These symbols and letters, known as control marks, were used to identify the officials responsible for a particular issue of coinage.
