EGYPT, Ptolemaic Kings. Berenike II, wife of Ptolemy III. 246-221 BC. AV Octadrachm (27.74 gm). Struck after 241 BC. Veiled head of Berenike right /
BERENIKHE BASILISSHS, cornucopiae tied with fillets. Svoronos 1113; SNG Copenhagen 169. EF, dies of good artistic execution. $17,500.
CNR XXVII, June 2002, lot 48.
Berenike II was the daughter of Magas of Cyrene and became the wife of Ptolemy III. The famous apotheosis of "the lock of Berenike" refers to this queen. A lock of hair was sacrificed by the queen in exchange for the safe return of her husband from the Syrian wars, the lock was supposedly taken to heaven by the Dioscuri and became the constellation Coma Berenikes. Berenike II ruled Egypt during her husband's long absence in Syria, and, as the first woman of the Ptolemaic dynasty to wield true power, would have warranted a lifetime issue in her name. Some of Berenike's earlier coinage is struck on the Attic standard, a standard which had not been used in Egypt since 310 BC. No satisfactory explanation has been determined for switching to the Attic standard, although it may indicate that this series was struck for disbursement outside of Egypt. The range of gold denominations struck at this standard includes dekadrachms, pentadrachms, half pentadrachms, drachms, hemidrachms, and quarter drachms. Berenike's Attic standard coinage has traditionally been dated to 246-241 BC while Ptolemy was campaigning in Syria. The various monograms and symbols indicate that there were perhaps as many as four gold emissions. After about 230 BC Alexandria reverted to the Ptolemaic standard for its gold, striking oktodrachms for Berenike.
