Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 585. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $11000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy III Euergetes. 246-221 BC. AV Oktadrachm (27.71 gm, 12h). Alexandria mint. Commemorative issue struck under Ptolemy IV, 221-205 BC. Bust of the deified Ptolemy III right, wearing radiate diadem and aegis; trident over left shoulder, middle prong ends in a lotus finial / BASILEWS PTOLEMAIOU, radiate and filleted cornucopiae; DI below. Svoronos 1117; BMC Ptolemies pg. 56, 103; SNG Copenhagen 196; Boston MFA 2283. Good VF, traces of an undertype on the reverse around the DI, possibly overstruck. Remarkably free from the usual die rust in the radiate diadem. ($10,000)

Under Ptolemy IV, an extensive series of oktadrachms was struck posthumously for Ptolemy III, portraying him with the divine attributes of Helios (the radiate diadem), Zeus (the aegis), and Poseidon (the trident, the middle prong modified with the addition of the Egyptian lotus tip). The concentration of such symbols is intended to show Ptolemy III as the master of the three elements, heaven, earth and sea. The radiate crown above the cornucopiae on the reverse is another distinctive feature of Ptolemy III's iconography, and was later adopted by his grandson, Ptolemy V.