Extremely Rare and Pedigreed to 1935

5685517.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy I Soter. As satrap, 323-305/4 BC or king, 305/4-282 BC. AR Tetradrachm (27.5mm, 15.75 g, 1h). Ptolemaic standard. In the name of Alexander III of Macedon. Alexandreia mint. Struck circa 306-300 BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, wearing elephant skin, aegis around neck / AΛEΞANΔPOY, Athena Alkidemos advancing right, brandishing spear in right hand and wearing shield on extended left arm; small round shield to inner left; to right, helmet, ΔI, and eagle standing right on thunderbolt. CPE 74; Svoronos 176; Zervos Issue 32 (dies 532/a – this coin referenced); SNG Copenhagen –; Künker 111, lot 6343 = Banque Populaire du Nord FPL April 1987, no. 258 (same dies). Attractive old collection tone, hairline flan crack, minor area of flat strike at edge on reverse. EF. Extremely rare issue, one of only six noted by Zervos, with one additional in CoinArchives; five are in museum collections (Alexandria [Graeco-Roman Museum], Berlin [Staatliche Museen, 2 coins], New York [ANS], and Paris [BN]).

Ex Wild Rose Collection; Triton XXII (8 January 2019), lot 403; Santamaria (24 January 1938), lot A168; Richard Cartwright Collection (Münzhandlung Basel 4, 1 October 1935), lot 949. Lot also includes two old collection tickets.