392, Lot: 347. Estimate $150. Sold for $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Berenike II, wife of Ptolemy III. Circa 244/3-221 BC. Æ Tetrachalkon (16mm, 3.67 g, 12h). Lebedos (Ptolemaïs) mint; Pytheos, magistrate. Struck circa 240-222 BC. Veiled head right / Triptolemos seated left, holding grain ears and poppy with right hand and scepter with left; ΠΤO to left, ΠYΘEOΣ to right. Svoronos 921 var. (magistrate); Kinns 27; Weiser –; SNG Copenhagen –; Noeske –. Near VF, dark green patina with a few light green deposits. Very rare, only one example with this magistrate known to Kinns (in Berlin).

In the Third Syrian War (246-241 BC), Ptolemy III wrested control of a number of cities in western Asia Minor from the Seleukids. Lebedos was one such city, which Ptolemy subsequently refounded as Ptolemaïs. Only a handful of these Ptolemaic coins of Lebedos are known, and their attribution to this mint is based primarily on their findspots and the presence of a grape bunch (a symbol of Lebedos) symbol on the silver coinage. Although Ptolemaic tetradrachms of all mints typically feature an idealized portrait of Ptolemy I Soter on the obverse, these coins of Lebedos exhibit a portrait whose features are quite different and more realistic, suggesting they are actually a portrait of Ptolemy III.