Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 720. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $960. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy I Soter. As Satrap, 323-305 BC. AR Tetradrachm (15.50 gm,2h). Alexandria mint. Struck in the name of Alexander III of Macedon, circa 310-305 BC. Diademed head of Alexander right, wearing elephant's skin / Athena Alkidemos advancing right; monogram and bee to left, eagle to right. Svoronos 153; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC Ptolemies 45; Malter II, 16. VF, light graffiti, toned. Very rare. ($500)

This particular coin belongs to a series of tetradrachms with subsidiary symbols; bee, cornucopiae, helmet, dolphin, and aplustre (cf Svoronos pl. V, 18-24). They appear to be struck on slightly broader flans, such that the dotted border is completely visible, and the style is slightly different from the typical issues. Most notably, the chiton of Athena Alkidemos is shown as one fan-shaped drape, while the normal style is in two parts showing the folds around the legs and extending slightly behind her. (Interestingly, the style of the Athena on these are nearly identical to her depiction on the earliest, Attic-weight coins of Ptolemy [see lot 716 above].) These subsidiary-symbol types were all struck in the period of the Diodoch Wars when Ptolemy moved to extend his control to the Aegean and mainland Greece. In 309 BC, Ptolemy gained the important islands of Cyprus and Kos, and secured the support of the Nesiotic League in the Aegean. From these possessions he made a number of attempts to infiltrate Asia Minor, but ultimately failed after Antigonos I Monophthalmos returned to Asia from his campaigns against Seleukos I in Babylon. At the same time, though, Ptolemy also secured a foothold in Greece, seizing Corinth, Sikyon, and Megara. These campaigns would have required massive amounts of money, and it is possible that these subsidiary-symbol coins were minted while Ptolemy was in Asia Minor.