Third Known Ake-Ptolemaïs Tetradrachm // Numismatically Important

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 395. Estimate $15000.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $13000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochos V Eupator. 164-162 BC. AR Tetradrachm (14.14 g, 1h). Ake-Ptolemaïs mint. Diademed head right; monogram behind / BASILEWS ANTIOCOU EUPATOROS, eagle standing left on thunderbolt; palm to left, monogram between legs. Brett 17 = G.F. Hill, “Greek Coins Acquired by the British Museum in 1925,” NC 1926, 22 (same obv. die); SNG Spaer -; de Clercq 89 (same dies). EF, minor die wear on obverse, area of slight roughness on reverse. Extremely rare, the third known.

Antiochos V struck two series of tetradrachms from Ake-Ptolemaïs, differentiated by the monogram between the eagle’s legs. The monograms appear to be formed of an HP and an AG, respectively. The two known tetradrachms with the HP monogram, however, are plated contemporary forgeries. Houghton and Lorber contend that these are likely copied from authentic pieces which have yet to be discovered. This particular piece, one of three known with the AG monogram, has traces of the HP monogram below the AG monogram, not only proving their theory, but also establishing the relative chronology of the two series.