Second Punic War
215-214 Ptolemy IV
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Coin Details
| Origin/Country: |
ANCIENT - GREEK EMPIRES (6th CENT BC - 5th CENT AD) PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM Ptolemy IV, 222-205/4 BC |
| Item Description: |
AR Tetradrachm Ptolemaic Kingdom yr.48 (215/4 BC(?)) Cyprus(?) obv Ptolemy I. |
| Full Grade: |
NGC Ch VF Strike: 5/5 Surface: 3/5 |
| Owner: |
deposito |
Owner Comments:
PTOLEMAIC EGYPT. Ptolemy IV Philopater (222-205/4 BC). AR stater or tetradrachm (25mm, 13.97 gm, 12h). NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 3/5. Uncertain Mint 42 (in Syria or Phoenicia? Arados?), dated Year 48 of an uncertain era (215/4(?) BC). Diademed head of Ptolemy I right, aegis tied around neck; dotted border / ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙOΥ-ΣΩTHPOΣ, eagle with closed wings standing left on thunderbolt; MH (date) between eagle's legs, dotted border. CPE 950. Svoronos 849.
The eagle on the thunderbolt appears in similar form on the reverse of the gold issues by Rome just a few years after this coin was struck, in about 212 BC. Maybe Ptolemy sent support - even gold - to Rome in its time of need.
In her new publication, Coins of the Ptolemaic Empire, Catharine Lorber proposes this issue could be tied to an Syro-Phoenician era, beginning in 262/1 BC, that might have replaced an aborted Raphian Era dating system.