Newp: Ptolemaic dinner plate

Good advice.

 

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I just got done posting it over at FORVM. Hopefully this will turn out to be no big deal but thanks for pointing out the irregularities and the good suggestions regardless.

 

Ya' gotta love 'em big ol' Ptolemy's, nice coins Spork.

 

oh man...i hope that coin turns out to be OK RS...i have my fingers crossed for you. keep us posted.

 

I think it will turn out fine. I purchased from an extremely experienced seller who has been collecting longer than I've been alive, and selling coins for a good part of that and I also ran it by a dealer I've worked with in the past who has handled many Ptolemaic bronzes, and has multiple of this exact type in his inventory, and he saw nothing out of the ordinary about it.

 

First update from a comment on Forvm:

AJN 2013, A Metrological Survey of Ptolemaic Bronze Coins, reports the mean weight of 69.25g for >100 specimens of Sv 992, with a standard deviation of 4.68g. The range for Series 3 - 5 bronze drachmae is approximately 59 to 79 grams.

So the weight is within range, but he's asked me to give him a call, so I'm going to call him in about 15 minutes and will post another update afterwards.

 

I think it will be fine.

Here is mine, only 6.5mm thick

Ptolemy IV
Diademed head of Zeus-Ammon right
ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ - Eagle standing left on thunderbolt; cornucopiae left Σ between legs
Mint: Alexandria (221-205 BC)
Wt./Size: 71.72g / 42mm

 

Not sure if you've ever checked out the PtolemyAE website that he runs, but there's an article about how these were made. What's interesting is that your coin wouldn't seem to fit with the manufacturing process...at least from what I understood. I'm looking forward to your updates!

 

The weight is within expected limits based on a study that was done on over 100 of these coins, and the flan and style both look exactly as one would expect them to look according to every dealer I've asked. As far as weight standards go, the Ptolemaics weren't precise with each individual coin but with average weights - so when you look at the average weight of a drachm, a hemidrachm, etc over many examples it is almost perfectly linear. So I think this one is 100% authentic based on comments at FORVM and dealers I have spoken with.

 

Well that's good news indeed. A toast is in order - congratulations!

 

Congratulations

 

Good news!

Any mention of why this doesn't have the taper?

 

The way that these coins taper is quite irregular and happens both because of how the coins were cast and how the flans were filed after casting. The one is definitely wider at the reverse than at the obverse but not nearly as noticeably as some of these Ptolemaics get.

 

awesome...glad to hear it!

 

By the way, for those who are interested in the weights, check out the second link down on http://www.ptolemybronze.com/ for an extremely interesting metrology study. Lots of interesting graphs on just how precise they were with the mean weight while being somewhat imprecise with individual weights(i.e. a range of 59-79 grams for this one).

 

Hey thanks for the reply. In the pictures the obverse and reverse appeared to be the same size to me. I'm really into Ptolemies and I have a lot to learn so I'm glad we got talk about yours.

 

The coin is perfectly genuine. Do you know anything about Ptolemaic bronzes?

 

Glad to hear all is well, and glad you were able to learn about these Ptolemaic coins. Perhaps one day I will expand out and collect a couple of examples.

 

Anyone going to feed the troll?

 

@red_spork, that is great news! Thanks for the update.

I'm hoping that Alfred (of Agora Auctions) didn't mean for his comment to be interpreted as condescension.