Hemiobol - Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy I delayed adopting the royal title for nearly two decades after Alexander's death, ruling first as satrap of Egypt before proclaiming himself king in 305 BC — the same year this issue begins. The bronze hemiobol belongs to a closed currency system Ptolemy deliberately engineered to keep foreign silver out of Egypt, forcing all merchants trading within his kingdom to exchange coin at royal banks and accept Ptolemaic bronze for small transactions.

Svoronos 79 is among the earlier attributed types of the reign, placing this piece in the formative decades when the Ptolemaic mint at Alexandria was still establishing the denominational structure that would define Egyptian coinage for the next three centuries.