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<p>[QUOTE="Broucheion, post: 3976191, member: 104887"]Yes,</p><p><br /></p><p>Svoronos 1732, the 5 drachm type used for the holy water dispensing machine designed by Hero of Alexandria. From the store of someone on this list, I think. It's not in hand yet, but it's nicer than the one I have. Seller's photo below.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1046506[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Size: 11mm</p><p>Weight: 0.7 g</p><p>Svoronos 1732; SNG Copenhagen 673</p><p><br /></p><p>Some background follows.</p><p><br /></p><p>CC Lorber (The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage):</p><p>"Cleopatra reformed the Egyptian bronze currency, providing an adequate supply of struck coins for perhaps the first time in half a century. Her best known Alexandrian bronzes comprise two sizable denominations with her portrait on the obverse and marks of value on the reverse, designating these coins as equivalent to 80 and 40 of the small bronze "drachms of account" according to the system of reckoning introduced around the turn of the second century. The weights of these coins imply that the "drachm of account" was now a unit of 0.2 g. Also attributable to Cleopatra are small Ammon/eagle bronzes marked B - A or K - Λ; these must represent the smallest unit of the currency system, the bronze pentadrachm described by Hero of Alexandria in connection with dispensing machines for holy water (Maresch 1996: 96-97; Picard 2005: 85, 2008). Because Augustus adopted Cleopatra's system of denominated bronzes but later gradually reintroduced the traditional Greek divisional system of chalkoi and obols, there is reason to suspect that Cleopatra's bronzes could also have functioned in the traditional system. The 1:8 ratio between the pentadrachms and the 40-drachm pieces suggests they could have been chalkoi and obols, respectively, making the 80-dradun piece a diobol; intriguingly, the 40- and 80-drachm coins have the same weights and ctiameters as the bronze obols and diobols of Ptolemy II, perhaps implying that the traditional divisional system had survived unchanged beneath the overlay of the new decimal system (Faucher 2006; Maresch 1996: 68, 110-111)."</p><p><br /></p><p>See also Ptolemaic Lead Coinage in Coele Syria (103-101 BCE), by Oliver D Hoover, INR, Vol 3 (2008) pp 81-86:</p><p>"The types used for this series are drawn directly from a Ptolemaic bronze coinage struck at Alexandria (Svoronos 1904:246, Nos 1732-1733). The mint of the bronze coinage seems assured as some 43 specimens (one twelfth of the Ptolemaic coin finds) have been found in the excavations carried out by the Centre d'Etudes Alexandrines (Picard 2005:85). The small Alexandrian bronzes upon which [similar] lead pieces are modeled feature the horned head of Zeus-Ammon on the obverse and the Ptolemaic eagle standing on a thunderbolt flanked by either Κ - Λ (presumably for ΚΛ[ΕΟΠΑΤΡΑΣ]) or Β - Α (presumably for ΒΑ[ΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ]) on the reverse. [NB: TV Buttrey attributes these to Cyrenaica.]"</p><p><br /></p><p>- Broucheion[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Broucheion, post: 3976191, member: 104887"]Yes, Svoronos 1732, the 5 drachm type used for the holy water dispensing machine designed by Hero of Alexandria. From the store of someone on this list, I think. It's not in hand yet, but it's nicer than the one I have. Seller's photo below. [ATTACH=full]1046506[/ATTACH] Size: 11mm Weight: 0.7 g Svoronos 1732; SNG Copenhagen 673 Some background follows. CC Lorber (The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage): "Cleopatra reformed the Egyptian bronze currency, providing an adequate supply of struck coins for perhaps the first time in half a century. Her best known Alexandrian bronzes comprise two sizable denominations with her portrait on the obverse and marks of value on the reverse, designating these coins as equivalent to 80 and 40 of the small bronze "drachms of account" according to the system of reckoning introduced around the turn of the second century. The weights of these coins imply that the "drachm of account" was now a unit of 0.2 g. Also attributable to Cleopatra are small Ammon/eagle bronzes marked B - A or K - Λ; these must represent the smallest unit of the currency system, the bronze pentadrachm described by Hero of Alexandria in connection with dispensing machines for holy water (Maresch 1996: 96-97; Picard 2005: 85, 2008). Because Augustus adopted Cleopatra's system of denominated bronzes but later gradually reintroduced the traditional Greek divisional system of chalkoi and obols, there is reason to suspect that Cleopatra's bronzes could also have functioned in the traditional system. The 1:8 ratio between the pentadrachms and the 40-drachm pieces suggests they could have been chalkoi and obols, respectively, making the 80-dradun piece a diobol; intriguingly, the 40- and 80-drachm coins have the same weights and ctiameters as the bronze obols and diobols of Ptolemy II, perhaps implying that the traditional divisional system had survived unchanged beneath the overlay of the new decimal system (Faucher 2006; Maresch 1996: 68, 110-111)." See also Ptolemaic Lead Coinage in Coele Syria (103-101 BCE), by Oliver D Hoover, INR, Vol 3 (2008) pp 81-86: "The types used for this series are drawn directly from a Ptolemaic bronze coinage struck at Alexandria (Svoronos 1904:246, Nos 1732-1733). The mint of the bronze coinage seems assured as some 43 specimens (one twelfth of the Ptolemaic coin finds) have been found in the excavations carried out by the Centre d'Etudes Alexandrines (Picard 2005:85). The small Alexandrian bronzes upon which [similar] lead pieces are modeled feature the horned head of Zeus-Ammon on the obverse and the Ptolemaic eagle standing on a thunderbolt flanked by either Κ - Λ (presumably for ΚΛ[ΕΟΠΑΤΡΑΣ]) or Β - Α (presumably for ΒΑ[ΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ]) on the reverse. [NB: TV Buttrey attributes these to Cyrenaica.]" - Broucheion[/QUOTE]
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