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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 1804360, member: 56859&quot;]A few months ago a friend, upon hearing that I was collecting ancient coins, said he would like to have a coin issued by a pharaoh. Hmm. &quot;I don&#039;t think there are any&quot;, I replied. I hadn&#039;t come across any in my whirlwind but voluminous searching, although I hadn&#039;t been looking for such a coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Turns out there are some. Nektanebo II, the last native pharaoh of Egypt, issued coins in bronze, gold, and perhaps silver. Prior to that, Egypt was a barter economy although some coins were produced for international trading-- imitations of Athens, Attica tets, for instance.&nbsp; Nektanebo appears to be the first pharaoh to issue coins for local use.&nbsp; <i>Maybe.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]293734[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>PHARONIC KINGS OF EGYPT, Nektanebo II</b></p><p><b>360-343 BC</b></p><p>AE</p><p>15 mm (4 mm thick), 4.4 gm</p><p>Obv: Ram leaping left, head reverted.</p><p>Rev: Scales of Ma&#039;at; countermark with helmeted bust right.</p><p>Ref: Weiser 1</p><p><br /></p><p>Per a few auction house sales a half decade ago, it seems these bronzes were extremely rare. I wonder if a small horde was recently found because the prices have fallen and there are currently six specimens in retail e-stores and at least two more were auctioned off very recently.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is not universal agreement the issuer, purpose, and location of circulation of these coins. Sellers tout it as the &quot;sole pharonic issue&quot;-- I&#039;m sure that boosts desirability-- but it may not be accurate. Hope it is though.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is some information about that controversy from CNG, in the description of</p><p><a href="http://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=166158" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=166158" rel="nofollow">this coin (similar to mine)</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #00b300"><b>I wanted this coin for several reasons.&nbsp; </b></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #00b300"><b><i>First</i>, well… a pharaoh&#039;s coin?&nbsp; That&#039;s just cool.&nbsp; Maybe even as cool as Anoob&#039;s Buddha coin <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #00b300"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #00b300"><b><i>Second</i>, it depicts the Scales of Ma&#039;at.&nbsp; Such a device was used in <i>Jitterbug Perfume</i>, a book by Tom Robbins, one of my favorite authors. In it, at a limbo-like way station, the newly dead have their hearts weighed against a feather.&nbsp; The heart must be light as a feather to move on.&nbsp; I was unaware until seeing this coin that the scene was taken directly from Egyptian mythology.</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #00b300"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #00b300"><b><i>Third</i>, it is for my oft-mentioned themed collection, almost finished and soon to be unveiled.</b></span></p><p><br /></p><p>There was another one I wavered about in the Gorny &amp; Mosch auction a few days ago.&nbsp; Decided to go for it but hadn&#039;t prebid and I missed it during live bidding due to being at work (dang work always getting in the way of fun).&nbsp; The scales were better on that example.&nbsp; So sorry to have missed it-- and it went for a decent price.&nbsp; Oh well, others will come along.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Nektanebo II, of the 30th Egyptian Dynasty; 360-343 BC</b></p><p>-Translated from Egyptian &quot;Nakhthorheb (meryhathor)&quot; or &quot;Nekht-her-hebet&quot; or &quot;Nekht-harhebi&quot;</p><p>-Alternate spelling Nectanebo</p><p>-Birth name:&nbsp; Nakht-hor-heb (mery-hathor) “Strong is His Lord Horus, Beloved of Hathor”</p><p>-Throne name:&nbsp; Snedjem-ib-re Setep-en-inhur “Pleasing to the Heart of Re, Chosen of Onuris”</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Head_of_Nectanebo_II-MBA_Lyon_H1701-IMG_0204.jpg/440px-Head_of_Nectanebo_II-MBA_Lyon_H1701-IMG_0204.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Additional biographic information about Nektanebo II</p><p><a href="http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/nectanebo1.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/nectanebo1.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/nectanebo1.htm</a></p><p><br /></p><p>About Ma&#039;at, the Scales of Ma&#039;at, and the weighing of hearts:</p><p><a href="http://www.egyptartsite.com/judgement.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.egyptartsite.com/judgement.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.egyptartsite.com/judgement.html</a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat</a></p><p><a href="http://www.aldokkan.com/religion/hall_maat.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.aldokkan.com/religion/hall_maat.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.aldokkan.com/religion/hall_maat.htm</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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