Extremely Rare AV Tetradrachm

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 340. Estimate $20000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $18500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy III Euergetes. 246-222 BC. AV Tetradrachm (13.83 g, 11h). Alexandreia mint. Commemorative issue struck under Ptolemy IV, 221-205 BC. Bust of deified Ptolemy III right, wearing radiate diadem and aegis; trident over left shoulder, middle prong ends in a lotus finial / BASILEWS PTOLEMAIOU, radiate and filleted cornucopia; DI below. Svoronos 1118; cf. SNG Copenhagen 196 (Oktadrachm); Boston MFA -; Dewing -; BMC p. 56, 105. VF, a few minor edge marks. Extremely rare denomination, Svoronos cites only three examples.

Ex Sale of a Lady (Christie’s, 9 October 1984), lot 302.

Ptolemy IV struck an extensive series of oktadrachms (and a very small number of tetradrachms and drachms) for his father Ptolemy III, portraying him with the divine attributes of Helios (the radiate diadem), Zeus (the aegis), and Poseidon (the trident, the middle prong modified with the addition of the Egyptian lotus tip). The concentration of such symbols is intended to show Ptolemy III as the master of the three elements: heaven, earth and sea. The radiate crown above the cornucopiae on the reverse is another distinctive feature of Ptolemy III's iconography, and was later adopted by his grandson, Ptolemy V.