Egyptian AE from local dealer's Junk Bin - Veiled Woman & Cornucopiae - Help!

The coin you initially asked about looks like a coin from the Phoenician Levant probably from Marathos (Marathus). When Ptolemy II married Arsinoe, widow of Lysimachus, she brought as her dowry some of the cities of Ionia and Phoenician Marathos. The veiled female portraits on Marathos coins are usually attributed as the later Berenike II. See Wildwinds.

Your coin seems unusually thin, worn, and underweight so who knows? I personally wouldn't be too quick to dismiss it. These coins can be really beat up. Some have been found under water ground down by the sand and tides.

 

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Thank you for that tip, Macromius. I'd not heard of Marathos and after a little preliminary digging around, it is kind of striking how some of the AEs from there resemble my OP - unfortunately the cornucopiae and veiled head don't seem to go together, but I must say I was struck by the resemblance in style, especially in regards to the "Arsinoe/Berenike II" head, which were a bit crude from Marathos compared to the lovely octodrachms from Alexandria.

It is hard for me to tell on a computer screen what the fabric of the coins are - mine is broad and thin, a bit concave. But this is interesting - I am going to keep looking. Again, thanks for the encouragement.

Here is a somewhat improved photo:

 

Here are a couple of my Berenice issues of Marathos for comparison:

 

Thanks Roman Collector. Those are interesting. They have that thick "Arados" look to them. Mine is more like a potato chip. But that obverse portrait definitely has a similar look.

Still poking around on the web and I found a series of coins from Karne with Tyche and a cornucopiae - intriguingly similar to mine, but definitely not a match. Tyche's not veiled. But some of the reverse lettering around the cornucopiae looks like my blurry example. Hmmm. I'm certainly getting my two bucks worth of learning out of this one!

The FORVM feature on Karne, for those who want to go along on my journey of not-quite-discovery:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=karne

 

Here are my 2 of my best Marathos coins. I keep these in my "too good to be true" box. I've yet to have them examined by an expert.

I collect coins of Hellenistic queens. One thing I've learned is that Egyptian queens appear on coins minted outside the Nile valley and it's delta, but still within it's sphere of influence. A good thing since I can't possibly afford the elegant high-end gold and silver Egyptian ones. Cornucopias appear elsewhere too. It's a complicated subject and it would be foolish of me to make hard conclusions especially with all the intermarriage between royal houses. Just sayin' my friends.



Cleopatra I and Berenike II ? Who knows for sure? I like the mystery!

 

Thank you for sharing these, Macromius. Those are some good lookin' queens, no matter who they are. They look more chunky and substantial than my broad thin junk bin find.

From my 2 whole-days-worth of experience with this sort of material, all I can say for sure is that I agree completely with "complicated subject." I'm nothing but question marks at this point.

 

Greetings! I am intrigued by your comment that Marathos was part of the dowry of Arsinoe II when she married Ptolemy II. Can you please tell me the source of this information? Thank you.

 

I've researched this before, and was unable to find any ancient source that mentioned a dowry of Arsinoe when she married Ptolemy II. My hunch is that there wasn't a dowry in the sense of the word as it is commonly and rightly used. After all, the couple were full siblings. Who would have paid the dowry?

Also, it cannot be overlooked that Arsinoe had already been a Queen twice. Any lands to which she had any claim would have been bled into the Ptolemaic Kingdom upon her marriage to Pt. II. The idea that it was a dowry seems to be modern history's conjecture. I suppose there is some basis/rationale for that conjecture, but literary evidence seems totally lacking to be able to state with certainty that there even was a dowry -- let alone that such a dowry included Marathos. It feels more likely that Ptolemy II's forces just captured Marathos, (re-conquering it actually). After all, he had a strong army/navy and was often focused on expanding his land through conquering it -- especially coastal cities.

 

Thank you very much.

 

The Ptolemaic "AE" and both Hadrian tetradrachms are cast forgeries. The Salonina and Gallienus are genuine.

Barry Murphy

 

Thank you, Barry. I agree completely.