PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Arsinoe II Philadelphos. Died 270/268 BC. AV Mnaïeion – ‘Oktadrachm’ (26mm, 27.76 g, 12h). Alexandreia mint. Struck under Ptolemy II, circa 263/2 or 261/0-255/4 BC. NGC Ch XF, 5/5, 3/5, marks.

CNG Feature Auction 129
Lot: 346.
Closing Date: May 14 2025 11:00 ET

Greek, 12h, Gold

Estimate: $ 10 000

BID NOW

PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Arsinoe II Philadelphos. Died 270/268 BC. AV Mnaïeion – ‘Oktadrachm’ (26mm, 27.76 g, 12h). Alexandreia mint. Struck under Ptolemy II, circa 263/2 or 261/0-255/4 BC. Head right, with ram’s horn, veiled and wearing stephane; lotus-tipped scepter in background, Z to left / APΣINOHΣ ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOY, double cornucopia, grape bunches hanging at sides, bound with fillet. CPE 385 (this coin illustrated); Svoronos 454; Olivier & Lorber Z dies 1/1, 21 (this coin); Troxell, Arsinoe, Group 2, p. 42, and pl. 3, 8 (same dies); SNG Copenhagen –; Hunterian 9 (same dies); Noeske –. In NGC encapsulation 6055914-001, graded Ch XF, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 3/5, marks. One of only three known with z control, this the only example in CoinArchives.

Ex Heritage 232049 (2 December 2020), lot 61091; Numismatic Fine Arts VI (27 February 1979), lot 429; Numismatic Fine Arts IV (24 March 1977), lot 447; Stack’s (10 June 1970), lot 670; Münzen und Medaillen AG FPL 258 (October 1965), no. 18.

Arsinoe II, daughter of Ptolemy I and Berenike I, was born in 316 BC. Her early life saw her married off to Lysimachos of Thrace at the age of 15 and then to her half-brother, the brutal Ptolemy Keraunos. She conspired against the latter and was forced to flee circa 280 BC to the protection of Egypt, ruled by her younger full brother, Ptolemy II. Her beauty, charm and intelligence utterly captivated Ptolemy, and, after eliminating his previous wife with an accusation of treason, Arsinoe married her brother, probably about 276 BC. Sibling marriage was traditional among Egyptian royalty but among the Greeks it was known only among deities; thus their union advanced the concept of rulers being worshipped as divinities. Though unscrupulous, Arsinoe proved a capable queen and co-ruler, taking charge of Egypt’s foreign affairs. Her death in 270 or 268 BC was marked by her full deification and a huge outpouring of gold coinage bearing her veiled portrait. The ram’s horn just visible emerging from the veil is a further symbol of her deification, reminiscent of the horn of Ammon on images of the deified Alexander.

The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 129 lots will be determined during the live online sale that will be held on 13-14 May 2025. This lot is in Session One, which will begin 13 May at 9 AM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.