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Nomos AG
Auction 16  10 May 2018
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Lot 153

Estimate: 20 000 CHF
Price realized: 22 000 CHF
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Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt. Period of Ptolemy VI and Ptolemy VIII, c. 180-116 BC. Tetra­drachm (Gold, 24 mm, 13.83 g, 12 h), struck in the name of the deified Arsinoe II, but probably meant to represent Cleopatra II, queen of Egypt, c. 170-116, Paphos, regnal year ΛΒ = 32 = 149 BC. Diademed and veiled head of Arsinoe II to right, wearing stephane and ram's horn and with a lotos-tipped scepter over her left shoulder. Rev. ΑΡΣΙΝΟΗΣ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟΥ Double cornucopiae bound with fillet; in field to left, LΛΒ; in field to right, ΠΑ. Unpublished but cf. Svoronos 1446 (a tetradrachm of Ptolemy VI minted in Paphos with this date) and 1447 (a gold octodrachm from Paphos in the name of Arsinoe dated to year ΛΓ = 33). Of the greatest rarity, unpublished save for its auction appearance and unique. An attractive coin with a pleasant portrait. A few minor marks, otherwise, extremely fine.
From the Ravenel Collection, USA, ex Nomos 13, 7 October 2016, 249, and from the Chrysos Collection, acquired in Geneva in 1980 from a collection formed prior to the late 1970s.

For a closely comparable and contemporary gold tetradrachm in the name of Arsinoe (also from Cyprus, but minted in Salamis and dated to regnal year ΚΖ = 27 = 154 BC), see the until then unpublished piece from the Adda Collection: Christie's, 9 October 1984, 307. That coin was, somewhat astoundingly, ascribed to the mint of Alexandria (despite having the clear mintmark ΣΑ on the reverse!).
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