First you need a
good guide to the coins of the Ptolemies.
Svoronos is free and on-line, but it is hard to use on-line. You can't
flip through the plates like you can in a book.
http://www.coin.com//images/dr/svoronos_book2.htmlSvoronos is a little out of date, but it is the best reference for attributing Ptolemiac coins that I know of.
To tell the difference between rulers, you look at the following (order of importance in my opinion.)
1.
Style of the
eagle - open or closed wing, way
head is turned, number of eagles, how the legs are positioned, and just its general
style. In this coin, it is fairly crude, which means one of the later Ptolemies, most likely.
2. Control marks and dates in the fields of the
reverse, if any.
3.
Style of the
obverse4. Control marks on the
obverse, if any.
5. Size of the coin - the size of coins with certain obverses and reverses seem to become
reduced with time. Also only certain sizes of coins
had certain obverses, like
Zeus or
Alexander.
6. Other marks, like the dimples in the center of a coin. They do not appear on all bronze coins issued by the Ptolemies.
I
hope the above helps. At least, that is how I go about attributing Ptolemiac coins.
