| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 150 | Auction date: 2 December 2024 |
| Lot number: 708 Price realized: 18,000 CHF (Approx. 20,275 USD / 19,367 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Ptolemy II Philadelphos, 285 – 246 In the name of Arsinoe II. Decadrachm, Alexandria, circa 249, AR 33 mm, 35.65 g. Diademed and veiled head of Arsinoe II r.; in l. field, MM. Rev. APΣINOHΣ – ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOY Double cornucopiae filled with fruit and bound with fillets. Svoronos 947. Troxell p. 44 and pl. 7, 7 (these dies). SNG Berry 1483 (this coin). CPE 354. Rare. Struck on excellent metal and with a lovely old cabinet tone. Good very fine Ex NFA XVIII, 1987, 261 and Triton XXII, 2019 sales. From the Burton Y. Berry collection and from the collection of a Northern California Gentleman. From a Scandinavian private collection. Upon her death in July of 270 BC, Arsinoe II, the sister-wife of King Ptolemy II, was deified and a cult was established in her honour as Thea Philadelphus ('brother-loving goddess'). It was a new cult, distinct from the Theoi Adelphoi ('sibling gods') cult, which by 272/1 had been established for Arsinoe and her husband. The first honorary coinage for Arsinoe II and her new cult appears to have been silver decadrachms, which were issued soon after her death. Starting in about 261/0, the same types were employed for gold coins that must have been as impressive then as they are today. The largest of these was an octodrachm or mnaieion (one-mina piece) that appears to have been worth 100 silver drachms, and was struck under successive Ptolemaic kings for about 150 years or more. Arsinoe's portrait is carefully composed to show her royal pedigree and her divinity. Her status as a queen is attested by the jewelled diadem at her forehead, and her divinity by the lotus sceptre at her shoulder and the ram's horn at her ear. While the obverse is devoted solely to the queen, the reverse is dedicated to her sibling relationship with Ptolemy II. The inscription APΣINOHΣ ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOY („[coin] of Arsinoe, brother-lover") is paired with a double cornucopiae, which presumably represents brother and sister. As a symbol of bounty and fertility, the double-cornucopiae laden with grain and fruit and bound by a fillet is thought to have been a personal badge of Arsinoe II. Estimate: 7500 CHF |  |
