Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3067 6-7 Sep 2018
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PTOLEMAIC EGYPT. Arsinöe II Philadelphus (277-270 BC). AR decadrachm (36mm, 34.44 gm, 12h). NGC XF 5/5 - 2/5, smoothing. Posthumous issue of Alexandria under Ptolemy II, dated Year 46 (225 BC). Veiled head of the deified Arsinöe II right, wearing stephane and horn of Ammon; lotus-tipped scepter in background, it's tip is just visible above head, Ξ Ξ in left field / APΣINOHΣ-ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOY, double cornucopia, grape bunches hanging at sides, bound with fillet. Svoronos 957. Very rare.
From the Collection of a Philhellene. Ex Gorny & Mosch 164 (17 March 2008), lot 279, with tag.
The ostentatious display of Egypt's wealth under the Ptolemies was not confined to gold coinage. Ptolemy I and his immediate successors also struck silver coins in larger denominations than any contemporary kingdom or city-state. Along with the vast outpouring of gold in the name of his sister-wife Arsinöe II, Ptolemy II also struck silver decadrachms displaying her veiled portrait backed with the cornucopia, symbolizing Egypt's agricultural abundance. Having died in about 270 BC, Arsinöe is shown as a goddess, with the tip of a ram's horn (symbolic of the god Ammon) poking out from beneath her veil, and the lotus-tipped scepter of the goddess Isis just visible above her head.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 4000-6000 USD
PTOLEMAIC EGYPT. Arsinöe II Philadelphus (277-270 BC). AR decadrachm (36mm, 34.44 gm, 12h). NGC XF 5/5 - 2/5, smoothing. Posthumous issue of Alexandria under Ptolemy II, dated Year 46 (225 BC). Veiled head of the deified Arsinöe II right, wearing stephane and horn of Ammon; lotus-tipped scepter in background, it's tip is just visible above head, Ξ Ξ in left field / APΣINOHΣ-ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOY, double cornucopia, grape bunches hanging at sides, bound with fillet. Svoronos 957. Very rare.
From the Collection of a Philhellene. Ex Gorny & Mosch 164 (17 March 2008), lot 279, with tag.
The ostentatious display of Egypt's wealth under the Ptolemies was not confined to gold coinage. Ptolemy I and his immediate successors also struck silver coins in larger denominations than any contemporary kingdom or city-state. Along with the vast outpouring of gold in the name of his sister-wife Arsinöe II, Ptolemy II also struck silver decadrachms displaying her veiled portrait backed with the cornucopia, symbolizing Egypt's agricultural abundance. Having died in about 270 BC, Arsinöe is shown as a goddess, with the tip of a ram's horn (symbolic of the god Ammon) poking out from beneath her veil, and the lotus-tipped scepter of the goddess Isis just visible above her head.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 4000-6000 USD