I would like to know what exact coin this one is. Ptolemy VI and the weight is 37,94 grams and 34 mm. Could this be a tetrobol ore hemidrachm? Do someone have a reference? I take a look to this page,
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=2180
I can't determinate it exactly. Portrait isn't that good also.
Thanks,
Joost
The exact time of this coin
type isn't precisely known - around
Ptolemy V or maybe a
bit before or after. There are three varieties of these largest two-eagle coins, apparently from about that same time period, that are otherwise unmarked (no
monograms or
symbols like
cornucopia, etc.): two with very large
Ammon horns emerging from either the top of the
head (like this one, the more common) or from the front of the forehead (less common), and one more
type with an
Ammon horn that looks like all the other
Ptolemaic Zeus Ammon bronzes (fairly small
Ammon horn on the
side of the
head).
Svoronos didn't distinguish among them and thus they have one
catalog number - Sv1423. They've since been 'noticed' and treated as varieties of Sv 1423. All three varieties apparently are the same 'denomination' (they have the same
average weight of about 39-40 grams, statistically indistinguishable from one another).
But it's hard telling what this
denomination actually is (
drachm?
hemidrachm? 100 'new' drachmae?) since the scheme of relationships between bronze
money and other things (real goods like grain and oil, silver
money, etc.) changed dramatically at about that time and so did the scheme of weight/value relationships for
Ptolemaic bronze coins that
had been constant for the preceding 60 years. There was also a civil war that cut
Egypt in two for about 15-20 years around the same time that affected coin production and circulation in different areas of
Egypt.
While the 'regular horn' Sv1423 coins are typically well-made
Ptolemaic bronzes (i.e. fairly round, nicely struck, nice design execution, etc.), these 'large
Ammon horn' hefty coins often seem much more crude and hastily made, which adds a
bit to their mystery.
The best we may be able to do for a
denomination guess is to note that in this time period this was the largest/heaviest bronze coin issued by the
Alexandria mint, which suggests it is not a 'fraction'.
PtolemAE
