GREEK COINS
EGYPT
Period of Ptolemy VI and Ptolemy VIII, c. 180-116 BC. Tetra­drachm (Gold, 24mm, 13.83 g 12), struck in the name of the deified Arsinoe II, but probably meant to represent Cleopatra II, queen of Egypt, c. 170-116, Paphos, regnal year ΛΒ = 32 = 149. Diademed and veiled head of Arsinoe II to right, wearing stephane and ram’s horn and with a lotos-tipped scepter over her left shoulder. Rev. ΑΡΣΙΝΟΗΣ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟΥ Double cornucopiae bound with fillet; in field to left, LΛΒ; in field to right, ΠΑ. Unpublished but cf. Svoronos 1446 ( a tetradrachm of Ptolemy VI minted in Paphos with this date ) and 1447 ( a gold octodrachm from Paphos in the name of Arsinoe dated to year ΛΓ = 33 ). Of the greatest rarity, apparently unpublished and possibly unique . An attractive coin with a pleasant portrait. A few minor marks, otherwise , extremely fine. From the Chrysos Collection, acquired in Geneva in 1980. For a closely comparable and contemporary gold teradrachm in the name of Arsinoe (also from Cyprus, but minted in Salamis and dated to regnal year ΚΖ = 27 = 154 BC), see the until then unpublished piece from the Adda collection: Christie’s 9 October 1984, 307. That coin was, somewhat astoundingly, ascribed to the mint of Alexandria (despite having the clear mintmark ΣΑ on the reverse!).