Mummiform Osiris
(Ptah-Sokar-Osiris)

Triton XXI, Lot: 61. Estimate $2000. Sold for $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. BI Tetradrachm (25mm, 13.26 g, 11h). Dated RY 12 (AD 127/128). AVT KAI TPAI A∆PIA CЄB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Mummiform Osiris (Ptah-Sokar-Osiris) standing right, holding scepter tipped with jackal-head; L ∆ω∆Є KATOV (date) around. Köln 982; Dattari (Savio) 1445 (this coin); K&G 32.458; RPC III 5713/20 (this coin); Emmett 883.12; Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 59 (this coin). Near EF, toned. Rare. Exceptional and certainly one of the finest known.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection, purchased from Dr. Piero Beretta, Milan, October 1972. Ex Dr. Piero Beretta Collection (Milan); Giovanni Dattari Collection, no. 1445.

In his book, Giovanni summarizes the unusual reverse type seen on this billon tetradrachm of Hadrian. The image of the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris divinity belongs to Egyptian theology, and in particular to funeral worship. It brings together three famous members of the Pharaonic Pantheon through their respective symbols: the headdress and scepter for Ptah, the solar disk for Osiris, and the mummiform wrappings for Sokar – the “Lord of the Necropolis.” These three associated divinities call upon the concepts of “mourning” and “life”, evoking at the same time the pain associated with death and the hope of resurrection. The main sanctuaries of Ptah, Sokaris, and Osiris were at Memphis and Abydos.