The First Issue in the Name of Ptolemy

Triton XVI, Lot: 585. Estimate $30000. Sold for $40000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy I Soter. As satrap, 323-305 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 17.18 g, 12h). Attic standard. Alexandreia mint. Struck circa 316-312/1 BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, wearing elephant skin / ΠTOΛEMAIOY AΛEΞANΔPEION, Athena Alkidemos, wearing crested helmet and chiton, striding right, preparing to cast spear held in right hand, shield on left arm; ΔI to inner left; to inner right, eagle standing right. Svoronos 32; Zervos Issue 17, dies 278/c; SNG Copenhagen 13; Noeske –; Hirsch 1790 = BMC pl. XXXII, 3 (same obv. die); Jameson 2619 (same obv. die); McClean 9761 (same dies). Good VF, attractively toned, obverse a little off center. Very rare, Zervos notes 16 examples, from two obverse and four reverse dies, all but three of which are in public collections. This coin is among the finest.

The unprecedented legend on this issue has sparked a vigorous debate, in both numismatic and historical literature. The debate has been distilled into two general camps. The first, relying on the original analysis by Svoronos, was that the legend referred to the mint of the coin, thus" 'Ptolemy's coin of Alexandreia.' This view has more recently been advocated by both O. Mørkholm (Mørkholm, Cyrene, p. 149) and M.J. Price (Price p. 496). In this light, these coins have been viewed as the first issues struck at Ptolemy's new mint in Alexandreia. While this interpretation is understandable from a purely numismatic context, literary and papyrological evidence more clearly support the second interpretation, that the legend states: 'Ptolemy's Alexander-coin.' This view was first proposed by O. Zervos, who showed that after the conquest of Alexander, in the late 4th century, there is ample non-numismatic evidence to show that the word ἀλεξάνδρειον meant not only coins of Alexander type, but also of Alexander (Attic) weight (Zervos pp. 321-26). Thus, the legend declares that this tetradrachm is of the same standard as the then-ubiquitous Alexanders, and would be recognizable as such in the marketplace. As this issue constituted the second issue of Ptolemy's new Athena-type tetradrachms, its appearance is perplexing. Zervos notes that around the same time, Ptolemy began issuing fractions on a totally different weight standard, which was not only non-Attic, but also too light to comport with the later reduced-standard tetradrachms. He suggests that the confusion this caused might have precipitated this issue that boldly asserts its Alexander (Attic) standard.

Although the interpretation of the legend is quite interesting in itself, perhaps more intriguing is the fact that this is not only the first appearance of Ptolemy's name on his coinage, but the first instance of any of the Diadochs placing their names on their coins. Such an action might very well have been viewed quite negatively by the other Successors, as at the time, the notion of them being satraps under the nominal Macedonian king was not yet shattered; placing his name on coins probably would have been viewed as tantamount to declaring himself king. The fact that this was a very short issue, his name was thereafter dropped from the coinage until he became king in 305 BC, and that a subsequent issue has the legend AΛEΞANΔPEION without the ΠTOΛEMAIOY, suggests that Ptolemy reversed his decision, and removed his name after finding it was unpopular and dangerous.