Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 969. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $1250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KYRENAIKA, Kyrene. Circa 277-275 BC. AR Didrachm (7.02 gm). Horned head of Apollo Karneios left / BA-SI, silphium plant; branch to left. Cf. SNG Copenhagen 1239; BMC Cyrenaica pg. 55, 260 (same dies); EHC 123. Good VF, lightly toned, peripheral porosity. Rare. ($750)

From the Tony Hardy Collection. Ex Leu 71 (24 October 1997), lot 254.

Some time around 300 BC, Ptolemy I appointed his son-in law Magas as governor of Kyrene. Magas ruled as a Ptolemaic vassal until the early 270s BC, when he had a falling out with Ptolemy II and appointed himself king of Kyrene. He then married Apame (daughter of Antiochos I) and made a pact with the Seleucids against Ptolemy II. Magas continued to rule independently, though near the end of his life, circa 250 BC, he reconciled with Ptolemy II. Following a revolution by the legal reformers Ekdelos and Demphanes (circa 249-246 BC), Kyrene returned to Ptolemaic hands. Mørkholm attributes this rare issue to a mint in the port city of Euhesperides and dates it to 290-280 BC, but the inscription BA-SI suggests that it may belong to the initial period of Magas' claimed kingship.