Rare Bee Symbol

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 413. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy I Soter. 305-282 BC. AR Tetradrachm (15.71 g, 12h). Alexandreia mint. Struck in the name of Alexander III of Macedon, circa 305-298/7 BC. Diademed head of Alexander right, wearing elephant's skin headdress / ALEXANDROU, Athena Alkidemos advancing right, brandishing spear in right hand, holding shield on left arm; to inner left, monogram above bee; to right, eagle standing right on thunderbolt. Svoronos 153; Jenkins, Early b; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC 45; Pozzi 3193. Good VF, iridescent toning. Very rare issue with bee.

Ex Gemini II (11 January 2006), lot 170; Classical Numismatic Auctions XXI (26 June 1992), lot 194.

The Ptolemaic Kingdom was one of the main successor states to the Macedonian empire forged by Alexander III ‘the Great’. Just prior to his death, Alexander gave his ring to Perdikkas, who gained the support of the other generals and became regent for Philip III and Alexander’s unborn son. Perdikkas oversaw the initial division of Alexander’s empire into separate satrapies, to which he appointed Alexander’s best generals, the Diadochs. Ptolemy, who was one of Alexander’s most illustrious leaders, was appointed to the lucrative satrapy of Egypt. By 320 BC, Perdikkas’ autocratic leadership isolated him from the other Macedonian leaders, and Ptolemy openly defied his leadership. Perdikkas led the Macedonian army into Egypt, but was assassinated before a final confrontation. Perdikkas’ death marked the end of a central command over the satrapies, and the beginning of the wars of the Diadochs. Although Ptolemy participated in a number of campaigns that toppled his fellow Diadochs, his rule over Egypt proper was never seriously challenged, and he was the only one of the Diadochs to die peacefully in his original kingdom. At the time of his death, Ptolemy held a number of islands and territories in Asia Minor and the Levant, but his successors were ultimately unable to hold on to lands outside of Egypt, save for Kyrenaika, which remained a Ptolemaic possession until the end of the kingdom. As with most of the other Diadochs, Ptolemy initially struck coins in the name of Alexander and opened new mints to serve his various campaigns and growing empire. Shortly after assuming the royal title in 305 BC, Ptolemy began issuing coinage in his own name. Unlike his earlier coinage in the name of Alexander, which displayed wonderful novel types such as the Athena Alkidemos (lots 413-414 below), the coinage system that developed in his kingdom was rather static, as Ptolemy’s successors continued to use the same basic designs established by the dynasty’s founder. Nonetheless, a few of the Ptolemaic rulers did issue exceptional types, such as the dynastic issues of Ptolemy II (lots 417-8 below) or the huge precious metal issues in the name of Arsinoë and Berenike (lots 419-422 below).