The brothers IX and X had a typical Game of Thrones thing going on, alternately ruling the Ptolemaic Empire between 110 and 81 BC. In the case of the chalkoi, the smallest ae denomination, sometimes it's clear when the coins belong to IX as he fashioned himself Soter, and the lettering reads ΣΩΤΗ. What are we to make of the varieties that are not so obvious? Usually they all have some abbreviation of ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ. On this coin, I read ΠΤ (in exergue, upside down), [ΟΛ]ΕΜ (on the left), and [ΒΑ]ΣΙΛ (on the right). But then there's one little letter left, which appears to be Λ, but could be A. If it's Λ, it could possibly abbreviate Larythos, signifying Ptolemy IX, but if it's A, could it be the Cyrenaean king Ptolemy Apion (c.150-96 BC), who also struck the same types? Sometimes I really wish the Ptolemiac monarchs would have been as egotistical as the Romans in clearly spelling out their names on the coinage. All the usual websites are no help on this one, but if I were to take a guess, I would say the last letter is Λ, making it Ptolemy IX. I'm going to ask for some help at FORVM, which the owner of Ptolemae frequents, but I thought I'd share it here as well. (It's a very nice example of these itsy-bitsy things at least.) Ptolemy Take Your Pick AE Chalkous, 13mm, 2.1g, Uncertain mint of Cyprus(?), or Alexandria, 145-88 BC. Obv.: Head of Zeus Ammon right. Rev.: ΠΤ-[ΟΛ]ΕΜ [ΟΛ]ΕΜ Λ(?); Headdress of Isis. Reference: cf. Svoronos 1845.
For those of you that are newcomers to ancient coins, the flans were cast and struck on sprues similar to this... After the coins were struck, they were broken off the sprues and trimmed by some sort of abrasion. My specimen somehow escaped the finishing touches, making it an interesting example of ancient minting techniques.
That's so cool JA!! I'm struck by the similarity to those biblical types (Widows Mites?) as far as manufacture is concerned ('flans cast and struck on sprues') and assume it was later---or concurrently-- adopted there as well???
I don't know the origin of the technique - perhaps it's Ptolemaic, but the earliest "widow's mites" come with the Hasmonean dynasty, so they would have borrowed the idea from earlier minters.
The technique was pioneered by the Chinese and I would not be surprised if it was imported to the West, though the Chinese series were exclusively cast and not struck on cast sprues.
This is a nice little video, but there was sooooo much more to it. I could watch an hour of this, going into great detail.
Hello John. See these with the same technique, the last Parthian strucked coins from Vologassus IV Seleucia on the Tigris..or comes from Dura Eur. I am drinking beer, I have weekend !!
I'm not trying to do a pile on here but the below Ptolemy IX looks to me that it wasn't "finished" correctly or all the way. Ptolemy IX, BC 117-58 AE, 3.21g, 16mm; 12h; Neopaphos mint, Cyprus Obv.: Head of Zeus Right Rev.: Zeus standing holding torch & staff, star above Ref.: Cox 128
i'm with cyrrhus...time to break out the beer! that's a cool little ptolemy JA, i would love to get a mini-ptolemy...something sub 20 mm is pretty high on the list. and that isn't the usual reverse, makes it cool. looks like the selecuid coins with the date below the headress.
very cool OP-coin ... another interesting specimen from the JA camp!! Pile-on thread ... sure, I'll pop-open another brew and toss this sweet PT-X onto the ol' pile ... Ptolemy X, AE24 116-80 BC Zeus & Two Eagles on T-bolt
