Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. Possibly Paphos mint. Ptolemy X Alexander I and Cleopatra Berenike 101-88 BC.
Bronze Æ

28 mm, 13,06 g

Head of Zeus-Ammon right, wearing tainia / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ, pair of eagles standing left on thunderbolt, to left, cornucopia.

nearly very fine

Cf. Weiser 179 (15 gr) (Weiser lists his 179 as Svoronos 1697); diameter and weight between Svoronos 1697 and 1698.

This issue seems to belong together with coins on the basis of style, often 'knife-edge' fabric, and the profusion of symbols next to the eagles on the reverse. A convergence of evidence links these types with a wide variety of unusual symbols to the time of Ptolemy IX - X, who competed and fought one another for rule of Egypt and Cyprus and during whose reigns a wide variety of similar symbols appeared on tetradrachms during a short time period. The exact meaning of the symbols is not known and, unlike many other Ptolemaic coin issues, they do not appear to indicate mintmarks because they are quite varied (thunderbolt, aphlaston, caduceus, petasos, cornucopia etc.).