Sale: Nomos 3 & 4, Lot: 157. Estimate CHF100000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 May 2011.  Sold For CHF120000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Berenike II, wife of Ptolemy III. Circa 244/3-221 BC. Octodrachm (Gold, 27.79 g 12), Alexandria. Veiled and draped bust of Berenike II to right, struck from the same die as the last. Rev. ΒΕΡΕΝΙΚΗΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ Cornucopiae bound with fillet, (struck by a die different from the one used for the previous coin . SNG Copenhagen 169. Svoronos 1113. Very rare. A beautiful coin. Virtually as struck.

From a Swiss private collection and from the collection of Nelson Bunker Hunt, III, Sotheby’s 4 December 1990, 59 and ex Hess-Leu 28, 5 May 1965, 314.

The gold octodrachms of Berenike II are among the most beautiful of all the Ptolemaic gold coins bearing female portraits. On this coin she appears to have a serene and kind loveliness that belies what we know about her power and ruthlessness.