Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 648. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy VI Philometor. Second reign, 163-145 BC. AR Tetradrachm (14.33 g, 12h). Paphos mint. Dated RY 31 (151/0 BC). Diademed head of Ptolemy I right, wearing aegis around neck / Eagle standing right on thunderbolt; LΛA (date) to left, ΠA to right. Svoronos 1445; SNG Copenhagen 620 (same obv. die). EF, attractively toned.

SNG Copenhagen 297-8 also places this same type, Svoronos 1445, at Alexandreia mint. In their study of a major hoard found on Cyprus (Paphos I, pp. 80 and 94), Nicolaou and Mørkholm note the difficulty of attributing coins of Ptolemy VI-X to either mint, as both issued coins with the exact same control marks and years. While they construct an argument for basing attributions on stylistic elements, they note that clear distinctions are lacking for the dated coins of Ptolemy VI, and although tentative assignments are made based on style, they caution that future evidence may alter these assignments.