Tetradrachm, Amathus circa 180-170, AR 29 mm, 14.10 g. Diademed head of Ptolemy I r., wearing aegis. Dotted border. Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ – ΠTOΛEMAIOY Eagle, closed wings, standing l. on thunderbolt; in l. field, kerykeion. Dotted border. Svoronos –.
Apparently unique and of great historical interest. Lovely old
cabinet tone and very fine / good very fine

Ex Bolaffi sale 24, 2014, 83.
This coin will be published in the upcoming CPE II
This unique and presently unpublished tetradrachm is listed in the forthcoming second part of Catharine Lorber’s Coins of the Ptolemaic Empire as no. 1298, where it is attributed to an uncertain mint on Cyprus. Stylistic similarities to the Cypriot era coinages, the wing on the thunderbolt of the reverse—a feature found on some era coinage issues as well as on regular issues of Ptolemy VI at Salamis and Citium—and the use of a field symbol all seem to support the Cypriot attribution. However, the absence of a date and a mintmark—regular features of most Cyrpriot issues under Ptolemy VI—makes it difficult to identify the mint with precision. Lorber, however, raises the possibility that this issue may have been struck as part of the same policy decision that created a new short-lived mint at Amathus. Both the present coin and the issues of Amathus may have been produced in an effort to relieve the abortive siege of Alexandria undertaken by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 168 BC.