Watch List notes:

Greek Coins
Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt, Ptolemy III Euergetes, 246-222. Octodrachm, Alexandria after 241 BC, AV 27.81 g.

Description

Diademed and veiled bust of Berenice r. Rev. ΒΕΡΕΝΙΚΗΣ – ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ Cornucopiae filled with fruit and bound with fillet.

References
Svoronos 1113 and pl. 35, 1
Boston 2348
SNG Copenhagen 169
Condition
Very rare. A beautiful portrait of fine style struck in high relief on a very broad flan, good extremely fine
Provenance
Nomos sale 3, 2011, 156
Nomos sale 9, 2014, 186
The APCW collection

Coinage in the name of Berenice belongs to a large, complex and attractive series that has benefited from much discussion in recent years. There is continual debate about the mints, dates, denominations, and weight standards, and even which Berenice is honoured: Berenice II, the wife of Ptolemy III, or Berenice Syra, the king's sister?
The traditional view is that the king's wife is honoured, but Hazzard suggests it may be the sister of Ptolemy III. He sees the coins as products of the Third Syrian War (Laodicean War), which began in 246 upon the death of the Seleucid King Antiochus II under mysterious circumstances. It caused a dynastic crisis, for he had two wives, the Seleucid Laodice and the Ptolemaic Berenice Syra, both of whom had children who were considered legitimate heirs to the Seleucid throne.
When Berenice Syra and her son were murdered in 246, it eliminated Ptolemaic claims to the Seleucid throne, thus causing Ptolemy III to invade Seleucid territories. The offensive was successful, but ground to a halt when domestic crises in Egypt forced Ptolemy III to return in haste. In 241, after a series of conflicts that often took place in the realm of international politics, Ptolemy III made peace with Seleucus II, the young man who had been made king in place of his nephew.
As much sense as Hazzard's suggestion makes, the case for Berenice II, a queen in her own right, is perhaps stronger. She had married Ptolemy III in about 246, the eventful year of Berenice Syra's death. Throughout the Third Syrian War she capably ruled in Egypt in his absence. Furthermore, the portrait bears no symbols that suggest that the subject was deceased. On the earlier coinage for the deceased Arsinoe II, the bust is adorned with the divine attributes of a ram's horn and a lotus-tipped sceptre. Neither is present on the Berenice coinage, and Berenice II was alive throughout her husband's reign, whereas Berenice Syra was deceased. A third option – equally impossible to prove – is that the coinage was intentionally ambiguous so as to honour Berenice II and Berenice Syra simultaneously.