Three Rare Denominations

Sale: CNG 75, Lot: 371. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007.  Sold For $435. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IONIA, Ephesos (as Arsinoeia). Circa 290-281 BC. AR Oktobol (5.49 g, 12h). Erxias, magistrate. Veiled head of Arsinoë right / Bow and quiver; monogram and [E]RXIAS to left, bee to upper right. Svoronos -; SNG Copenhagen -; cf. SNG Kayhan 280 (diobol). VF, minor porosity. Very rare, and this magistrate only published on the Kayhan diobol (and lot 373, below).

Lysimachos made himself master of Ephesos in 295 BC and shortly thereafter changed the city's name to Arsinoeia in honor of his wife, the daughter of Ptolemy I Soter. After the death of Lysimachos in 280 BC, Arsinoë married her half brother Ptolemy Keraunos and later her full brother Ptolemy II Philadelphos. She became the first Ptolemaic ruler to enter the Egyptian temples as "temple-sharing goddess," and was revered by the later Ptolemies.