Very Rare Ptolemy Keraunos Bronze

Sale: CNG 78, Lot: 435. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2008.  Sold For $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Ptolemy Keraunos. 281-279 BC. Æ 12mm (1.99 g, 12h). Diademed and draped bust of Arsinöe II right / Eagle standing left. Arslan & Ozen 29-55 (OD6/RD9). Good VF, brown patina. Very rare.

Ptolemy Keraunos, the eldest son of Ptolemy I, was originally chosen as heir to the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, but that title eventually fell unto his younger half-brother. Attempting to establish power elsewhere, Keraunos arrived at the court of Lysimachos, the husband of his half-sister, Arsinöe II, with whom Keraunos later traveled east seeking the aid of Seleukos. Seleukos accepted alliance with Keraunos and later defeated Lysimachos, only to be murdered in turn by Keraunos shortly thereafter. Having married Arsinöe and forged an alliance with Pyrrhos of Epeiros, Keraunos ruled for two years until his death fighting against the Gauls.