Nomos AG
Auction 22 22 Jun 2021
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PTOLEMAIC KINGS OF EGYPT
Ptolemy V Epiphanes, 205-180 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 25.5 mm, 14.12 g, 1 h), Fifth Syrian War issue, uncertain mint in Phoenicia, c. 202-199. Diademed and draped bust of Ptolemy V to right. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ Eagle with closed wings standing left on a thunderbolt; to left, monogram of ΠKA. Mørkholm, Coins 18 (A2/P5). SNG Copenhagen -. Svoronos 1258, pl. XLI, 24. Lightly toned and with a pleasing portrait of the king. A couple of light scratches, otherwise, good very fine.
From a Swiss private collection, acquired from Michel Dürr in early 1980s.
Both Svoronos, pp. 208-9, and H. Kyrieleis, "Die Porträtmünzen Ptolemaios' V und seiner Eltern" Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 88 (1973), pp. 218-9, attribute this issue to the Aetolian mercenary captain Skopas who became the Egyptian commander-in-chief during the war with Antiochos III. They base this identification on the ÐKA monogram, seeing in it a reading or partial reading of Skopas' name. Mørkholm suggests otherwise. He finds the clear lack of the letters Ó and O in the monogram - key components of the name - convincing proof that the monogram cannot be that of Skopas, but moreover points out the extreme hazard in trying to correlate well-known historical persons to coin issues based on monograms or initials on Hellenistic coins. He instead suggests the monogram is like most any other found on ancient coins, that it is simply a magistrate's or moneyer's monogram.
Ptolemy V Epiphanes, 205-180 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 25.5 mm, 14.12 g, 1 h), Fifth Syrian War issue, uncertain mint in Phoenicia, c. 202-199. Diademed and draped bust of Ptolemy V to right. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ Eagle with closed wings standing left on a thunderbolt; to left, monogram of ΠKA. Mørkholm, Coins 18 (A2/P5). SNG Copenhagen -. Svoronos 1258, pl. XLI, 24. Lightly toned and with a pleasing portrait of the king. A couple of light scratches, otherwise, good very fine.
From a Swiss private collection, acquired from Michel Dürr in early 1980s.
Both Svoronos, pp. 208-9, and H. Kyrieleis, "Die Porträtmünzen Ptolemaios' V und seiner Eltern" Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 88 (1973), pp. 218-9, attribute this issue to the Aetolian mercenary captain Skopas who became the Egyptian commander-in-chief during the war with Antiochos III. They base this identification on the ÐKA monogram, seeing in it a reading or partial reading of Skopas' name. Mørkholm suggests otherwise. He finds the clear lack of the letters Ó and O in the monogram - key components of the name - convincing proof that the monogram cannot be that of Skopas, but moreover points out the extreme hazard in trying to correlate well-known historical persons to coin issues based on monograms or initials on Hellenistic coins. He instead suggests the monogram is like most any other found on ancient coins, that it is simply a magistrate's or moneyer's monogram.