Well-circulated, I know. Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, 51-30 BC AE 40 drachmai Alexandria mint 21.0 mm; 7.32 gm Obv: Diademed head of Cleopatra, hair in bun at back of head, facing r. Rev: [ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ], eagle standing l. on thunderbolt, double cornucopiae in field to l., M (for 40) to r. Refs: Sear Greek 7956; Svoronos 1872; BMC 6; Vagi 212; Forrer 110 And here's how she (probably) did her hair:
Well circulated? Really? I would never guess this to be Cleo if I found it with a metal detector. I trust the attribution, however.
Mine has some tooling and had an applied patina (now removed). EGYPT, Ptolemaic dynasty. Cleopatra VII Thea Neotera 51-30 BCE AE 40 drachmae; 20 mm, 7.5 gm Obv: Diademed and draped bust right Rev: KΛEOΠATPAΣ BΑΣΙΛΙΣΣHΣ, Diademed and draped bust right / Eagle standing left on thunderbolt; double cornucopiae to left, M (mark of value) to right Ref: Svoronos 1872; Weiser 184-5; SNG Copenhagen 422-4
Cleopatra VII coins seldom come nice! Even the "well circulated" piece in the OP is a respectably tough coin! @TIF 's example (despite tooling, which I wouldn't have detected) looks way, way better to my eye than the majority I've seen. I'd love to have one someday. Some seem to have been struck in a rather brassy alloy? I think that often looks quite nice, even for the well worn examples (i.e. most of them out there). PS- I never thought I'd be interested in watching a hairstyling video, but that one posted in the OP is an exception.
Cool posts guys!! I suppose we all would all like to have a portrait coin of Cleo and mine is similarly as worn as the OP....but I seem to have deleted my old crappy 'practice photo'.
If I recall the story, @medoraman scored an amazing deal on a Cleo 80 drachmae. He found it at an antique shop. It was unidentified or misidentified and he was savvy enough to know what it was and its value. Hopefully he'll see the tag and tell the story
Well the whole month was weird. First went to DC and visited a local shop. A lot of overpriced ancients of another dealer the local dealer was showing. I was going to leave and he said he had a box of ancients. All were overpriced but the CLEO VII was overpriced as of 10 years ago. I picked up a nice gF, (not as nice as IF's) 80 drachmae for 4 $100 bills. Then, like 3 weeks later I went to a antique shop in rural MN, and the "coin guy" had three ancients, two pieces of garbage and a Cleo VII 40 drachmae F for $80. It was identified in a Littleton flip and everything. He said it had been in the shop for years with no one looking at it. So, I started that month never thinking I would own either, and at the end of the month had both the 80 and 40 pieces.
I have had this for 2 or 3 years. Never got around to attributing it fully. It is a poor little thing but good enough to cross her off the list.