Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 593. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KYRENAIKA, Kyrene. Circa 277-275 BC. AR Didrachm (7.02 gm, 12h). Horned head of Apollo Karneios right / BA-SI, silphium plant; branch to left. BMC Cyrenaica pg. 55, 260 (same dies); SNG Copenhagen -; EHC 123. Good VF, lightly toned, light porosity, hairline flan crack. Rare. ($1000)

Around 300 BC, Ptolemy I appointed his son-in law Magas governor of Kyrene. Magas ruled as a Ptolemaic vassal for more than a generation until a few years into the reign of his half-brother, Ptolemy II Philadelphos. In the early 270's, Magas 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 Seleukids against Ptolemy II. Magas continued to rule independently, though near the end of his life, around 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.