Hi All, Some time back I noticed a Ptolemy bronze coin for sale and fortunately was able to purchase it. It has a diameter of between 16.31 and 17.13 mm with a weight of 2.80 grams and is in rather rough condition.. What directed me to the coin was its obverse – to me it appeared to show not the god Zeus but a Ptolemaic king. One coin does not a series make so I checked numerous illustrations of coins for something similar and finally found an astonishingly similar match with coin #20 on Plate 6 of “The lotus of Aphrodite on Ptolemaic bronzes” by Dr Catharine Lorber. That coin is 19.0 mm in diameter with a weight of 4.34 grams and is in the ANS collection (1944.100.78967, Philipsen coll.). This second coin appears to have been struck from the same dies as my coin and I contacted Dr Lorber and sent her photographs and details of my coin. Dr Catherine Lorber was extremely helpful and is of the opinion that the obverse shows a Ptolemaic king in the guise of Zeus-Ammon (that is, she reads the ram's horn on the king’s head as representing an assimilation of Zeus-Ammon to a Ptolemaic king) and that he has an unusual type of beard that leaves the chin bare but covers the back part of the jaw. This type of beard is not normal for Zeus or Zeus-Ammon but appears on late portraits of Ptolemaic kings. She mentions that it is unexpected to find this kind of cryptic portrait on a bronze coin and wonders what might have motivated the production of a bronze issue with such special iconography.(Dr Lorber is, to me, the current "Great" in the field of Ptolemaic numismatics). The actual Ptolemy and the period of the coin are still in question. The lack of dimples would normally point to it being after 110BC but ptolemybronze.com shows and mentions a number of bronze coins dating to about 137BC which also have no dimple (Sv1624, Sv1628, etc). Regarding the unusual eagle – I have seen a coin of Ptolemy VIII with a somewhat similar tail and, regarding the king’s head with the “under the chin beard”, I found an illustration of a statue of Ptolemy IX with an under the chin beard – then I found one of Ptolemy X with a similar beard – then I found a statue of Ptolemy IX that was thought to be an altered statue of Ptolemy X with the same beard – then I gave up. Attached are photos of my coin and of that in the ANS Collection (Courtesy of the American Numismatic Society). My coin, and its brother from the ANS Collection, appear to be a new series of a Ptolemaic king yet to be determined. At the present time they appear to have a population of two coins in total. Hopefully more examples will be found, one of which might be a dateable example, and so give us an idea of just who this king was. Otherwise he will remain just one of the hundreds of mysteries in the Ptolemaic bronzes. Perhaps the members of Coin Talk know of other examples. Comments would be appreciated. All the best, Col
By its weight and diameter it could be a Dichalkon. Maybe you can find it at http://ptolemybronze.com/ptolemy_series.html
An interesting coin. Thanks for posting it here. I do not have any Ptolemaic coins in my collection yet. I have admired the "hockey pucks" that some on here have shown.
If you want to continue the research and put out a theory, this would make a great article for KOINON.
I dunno... I'm scared! Are you scared??? She is going to go GET THEM ALL!!! (or at least all the GOOD ones... )
"The lack of dimples would normally point to it being after 110BC but ptolemybronze.com shows and mentions a number of bronze coins dating to about 137BC which also have no dimple." And 137BC still comes before 110BC not after.
I think the OP is saying that this coin and a few others points to the likelihood of an earlier date than previously thought for coins which have no dimple. It reads correctly to me. I seem to have accumulated a bunch of common Alexandrian-struck issues, mainly thanks to a group lot. The really interesting ones are those which were struck elsewhere under the Ptolemies or which have iconography other than Zeus-Ammon/eagle .
I really enjoy your focus in Egyptian coins. When @Col Davidson posted his cool coin, I immediately thought of your collection. I also thought that I needed one too!!! (Let’s keep @zumbly out of this ) This was a popular saying when my 6 daughters were growing up...
