Egypt (Ptolemaic Kingdom): silver didrachm of Ptolemy VI "Philometer", ca. 163-145 BC

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by lordmarcovan, Jun 11, 2020.

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How interesting/appealing do you find this coin, whether or not you're an expert? (1=worst, 10=best)

  1. 10

    3 vote(s)
    14.3%
  2. 9

    3 vote(s)
    14.3%
  3. 8

    5 vote(s)
    23.8%
  4. 7

    3 vote(s)
    14.3%
  5. 6

    4 vote(s)
    19.0%
  6. 5

    1 vote(s)
    4.8%
  7. 4

    1 vote(s)
    4.8%
  8. 3

    1 vote(s)
    4.8%
  9. 2

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  10. 1

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Egypt (Ptolemaic Kingdom): silver didrachm of Ptolemy VI ("Philometer"), second sole reign, ca. 163-145 BC; Cyprus mint
    01-Ptolemy-frame.png
    Obverse: Diademed head of Ptolemy I Soter right, wearing aegis around neck.
    Reverse: Eagle standing left on thunderbolt with wings closed, P IZ (Z retrograde) in fields, E between legs.
    Issuer: Ptolemy VI Philometor, Ptolemaic King of Egypt, second sole reign, 163-145 BC.
    Specifications: Silver, 21 mm, 6.64 g.
    Grade: NGC VF; Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5. Cert. #5770260-002. Purchased raw.
    Reference: Svoronos 1228.
    Provenance: ex-Ken Dorney, via VCoins store, 30 May 2020.* Prior provenance to Classical Numismatic Group eAuction 456, Lot 248, 13 November 2019.*
    Notes: Struck at Cyprus. Ptolemy VI won a decisive victory against the Seleucid Kingdom at the Battle of Antioch (Oenoparus) in 145 BC, but died three days later from wounds received in the battle.
    Comments: This was my first Ptolemaic coin. I liked the greyish toning and the portrait on it.

    01-Ptolemy-frame.png 02-Ptolemy-Photovision.png 03-Ptolemy-black.png 04-Ptolemy-gradient.png 05-Ptolemy-white.png 06-Ptolemy-obv.png 07-Ptolemy-rev.png 08-Ptolemy-slab.png
    YouTube video clip from Ken Dorney:


    021966S
     
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  3. Pavlos

    Pavlos You pick out the big men. I'll make them brave!

    Nice didrachm, I still need to get a proper Ptolemy, I only have one bronze coin.

    The component Ptolemy VI fought against at Antioch in 145 BC.
    [​IMG]
    Alexander I (Balas). 152/1-145 BC. AR Drachm. Antioch mint. Undated issue ca. 149/8-148/7 BC (SE 164/5).
    Obverse:
    Diademed and draped bust of Alexander Balas right.
    Reverse: BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΛEΞANΔPOY ΘEOΠATOPOΣ EYEPΓETOY (“of King Alexander, Son of a Divine Father and Benefactor”). Apollo seated left on omphalos, testing arrow and resting hand on grounded bow; monogram in exergue.
    Reference: SC 1785.5b; HGC 9, 887a.
    4.12g; 19mm

    And the king Ptolemy VI fought together with:
    [​IMG]
    Demetrios II Nikator (146 - 138 B.C.) First Reign. AR Drachm. Antioch mint. Undated issue, ca. 146-144 B.C.
    Obverse:
    Diademed head of the youthful Demetrios II to right.
    Reverse: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΙΛΦΟΥ ΝΙΚΑΤΟΡΟΣ (“of King Demetrios, God loving one’s brother, the Victorious”). Apollo, nude, seated left on omphalos; holding arrow in his right hand and resting his left on his bow; to left, monogram; monogram between Apollo's leg.
    Reference: SC 1908.3
    3,99g; 17mm
     
  4. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Thanks for giving us the rest of the line of battle!
     
  5. Ryro

    Ryro Trying to remove supporter status

    Beautiful portrait and toning, commemorating a battle between Diadochial ancestors, from Cyprus!!!
    Yeah, thats my 10 of 10. That coin rings all the bells

    Here's my ptolemy vi:
    20190326_152140_29C91189-F986-4415-8391-818BEF79614E-406-000000C7485FA0A3.png
    Ptolemy VI Philopator
    (180-145 BCE) - AE30 (Cyprus, 23.26 MM 7,0 gm.) - Diademed head of Zeus Ammon right / Two eagles standing left on thunderbolt, double cornucopiae before (Svor. 1424 / Weiser 141)
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2020
  6. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Awesome! I only went with an 8, myself. But obviously I like it, since I bought it.
     
    Ryro likes this.
  7. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    I'll go with a 9 since I've yet to get one.
     
    lordmarcovan likes this.
  8. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    Still a great coin, @lordmarcovan ! Just one correction in your description: as stated in the CNG archives entry that @Sulla80 posted in your other thread (see https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6483628), as well as in the translated Svoronos [not Svornos] 1228 entry -- you have to go back to the first page of the didrachms [incorrectly attributed to Ptolemies IV and V] for the description of the obverses; see https://www.coin.com/images/dr/svoronos/svc001p169t.html -- that's the head of Ptolemy I on the obverse, not Ptolemy VI. Just like my own recently-acquired Ptolemy VI tetradrachm, which I wrote about in another thread as well, depicts Ptolemy I on the obverse. You can't miss that profile of Ptolemy I, and the later Ptolemies continued to use it frequently!

    Egypt, Ptolemaic Kingdom, Ptolemy VI Philometor [“Mother-loving”] (First reign, 180-164 BCE), ca.180-170 BCE, Alexandria Mint. Obv. Diademed head of Ptolemy I right, wearing aegis / Rev. Eagle with closed wings standing left on thunderbolt, ΠTOΛEMAIOY on left, BAΣIΛEΩΣ on right. Seaby 7895 [D. Sear, Greek Coins & their Values, Vol. II: Asia & Africa (Seaby 1979)]; Svoronos 1489 (ill. Pl. 51a, Nos. 1-5) [J.N. Svoronos, Ta Nomismata tou Kratous ton Ptolemaion (Athens, 1904-08)] (see https://www.coin.com/images/dr/svoronos/svc001p209t.html [incorrectly attributed to Ptolemy VIII]); SNG Copenhagen 262-268 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Copenhagen, The Royal Collection of Coins and Medals, Danish National Museum, Part 40: Egypt: The Ptolemies (Copenhagen 1977)]; BMC 6 Ptolemaic Egypt 3 (p. 100) (ill. Pl. XXIV No. 5) [R.S. Poole, A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 6, Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt (London, 1883)]. 26 mm., 12.14 g.

    Ptolemy VI tetradrachm jpg version.jpg
     
  9. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    PTOLOMY I

    [​IMG]
    Egypt Ptolemy I Soter Tet Delta bankers marks
     
  10. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Thank you. I'll circle back and fix it after I post the next writeup or two (I'm playing serious catchup ball on that front!)

    I almost always just copy and paste the catalog attributions (and spellings of such!) from the info I get from dealers, since to be honest, that particular part doesn't interest me very much and gives me headaches. Invariably, every time I post such a quoted attribution, somebody here corrects it! But it seems important to include such data, so I do. And that doesn't mean I'm ungrateful to the folks who post the corrections. It helps.
     
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  11. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    I think it's a good thing to know who's depicted on a coin!
     
  12. Sulla80

    Sulla80 Well-Known Member

    @lordmarcovan whatever score you get I think you can round up from anyone who only sees the CNG photo above. IMO the video you posted gives a much nicer impression. Whatever score, a nice coin that I would be happy to own ;)
     
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  13. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Dorney posted that. I'd like to convert it to an animated GIF but my GIF making app won't do that from YouTube vids. It seems I need another conversion app to download it from YouTube so I can convert it? :confused:

    PS- thanks for posting that here. I forgot to transfer it over from the old thread. When it's a GIF I'll be able to save it in my CollectiveCoin image drop (which is linked to by "Additional images") in the writeup.
     
  14. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Oh, certainly. It's the RIC-this-and-Crawford-that-and-Bolshnikov-such-and-such numbers that make my brain turn to goo. I know there are uses for such information, which is why I (begrudgingly) include such minutiae. It counts, and it's important to a lot of people, even if I happen to be a Philistine in that regard.

    Scrambled up numbers and letters get to me- I flunked Algebra. But visualizations work for me - I did fine in Geometry.
     
  15. Sulla80

    Sulla80 Well-Known Member

    gifs.com one nearly "free" option
    zv8JNm.gif
     
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  16. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Check my work?
    1. Corrected obverse description (head of Ptolemy I Soter, not Ptolemy VI Philometor). Fixed Wikipedia link.
    2. Corrected spelling of Svoronos.
    3. Added CNG/ACSearch info to provenance.
     
    DonnaML likes this.
  17. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Bless you, sir. Now if I can get a GIF of the flipped over reverse, I can splice the two together in my GIF app (which can make them up to a minute or so long, with no watermark).

    Here we go, after four tries...
    gif.gif
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2020
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  18. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Here's a GIF showing both sides. We seem to have lost a little bit of image quality, but this is adequate, I think. And can be saved in my CollectiveCoin gallery with the other images, which you can't do with a video.

    Eventually I intend to do something like this with all my coins, but right now just some of the shiny proofs and such have GIFS.

    20200611_223716.gif
     
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  19. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    Looks good to me!
     
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  20. randygeki

    randygeki Coin Collector

  21. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Thanks for the help.
     
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