Extremely Rare Ake-Ptolemais Tetradrachm

Sale: CNG 78, Lot: 903. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2008.  Sold For $8500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochos V Eupator. 164-162 BC. AR Tetradrachm (13.11 g, 1h). Ake-Ptolemaïs mint. Diademed head right; AB monogram behind / Eagle standing left on thunderbolt; palm frond to left, HP monogram between legs. SNG Spaer -; cf. Brett 1 (fourrée); SC II 1583b (forthcoming). Good VF, minor porosity. Extremely rare, possibly unique.

Antiochos V struck two series of tetradrachms from Ake-Ptolemaïs, differentiated by the monogram between the eagle’s legs. The monograms appear to be formed of HP and AΓ, respectively. The two known tetradrachms with the HP monogram cataloged by Brett, however, were plated contemporary forgeries. Houghton and Lorber contended that these were likely contemporary forgeries copied from official pieces which had yet to be discovered. Recently, a tetradrachm with the AΓ monogram appeared (lot 395 in Triton X) that clearly displayed traces of the HP monogram below the AΓ monogram, proving their theory. The present coin, however, is the first known with the HP monogram intact.