Mint Reattribution

265, Lot: 222. Estimate $100. Sold for $140. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy III Euergetes. 246-222 BC. Æ (17mm, 4.49 g, 12h). Mint in southwest Asia Minor. Struck circa 240 BC. Head of Zeus-Ammon right, wearing tainia / Eagle with closed wings standing left on thunderbole; tripod to left. Svoronos 793 (under Ptolemy II, Ake-Ptolemais mint); Weiser 80 (Ake-Ptolemais mint); SNG Copenhagen -; R. Ashton, “The Ptolemaic Coins in Fethiye Museum,” NC pp. 7-12, 75-100. VF, dark brown patina, minor roughness. Very rare - only four in CoinArchives (this being one of them).

Ex Gregory Conlin Collection (Classical Numismatic Group e178), lot 53.

Richard Ashton has reported substantial numbers of coins with the tripod control mark in the Fethiye Museum in modern Bodrum, near ancient Telmessos. The series was originally attributed by Svoronos to Ake-Ptolemais based on the presence of a ΠTO monogram behind the eagle’s tail on his type 792 (a place which Ashton [p. 10] rightly points out would be peculiar for a mint mark). The large proportion of coins of the tripod series in the museum (31.5% of the total Ptolemaic coins) suggests a local mint, with Telmessos itself being one candidate.