Very Rare Berenike Hemidrachm

CNG 102, Lot: 663. Estimate $3000. Sold for $7000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Berenike II, wife of Ptolemy III. Circa 244/3-221 BC. AV Hemidrachm (9.5mm, 1.54 g, 12h). Alexandreia mint. Struck under Ptolemy IV, circa 222-205/4 BC. Head right with ram’s horn, veiled and wearing stephanos; lotus-tipped scepter in background / BAΣIΛΣΣHΣ BEPENIKHΣ, cornucopia, grape bunches hanging at sides, bound with fillet. Svoronos 983; van Driessche 983, dies unlisted; SNG Copenhagen –; BMC –; Boston MFA –; Noeske –; CNG 100 (Adams), lot 114. Good VF, light scrape on bust. Very rare, only sixteen examples noted by van Driessche.

From the M. A. Armstrong Collection. Ex Triton II (1 December 1998), lot 537; George & Robert Stevenson Collection (Classical Numismatic Group XXVI, 11 June 1993), lot 148; Numismatic Fine Arts IV (24 March 1977), lot 449.