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Ptolemy
| Issuer | Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Copper |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Diademed and draped bust of a Ptolemaic ruler facing right, with coarse, heavily stylized facial features characteristic of a contemporary cast counterfeit. The hair is rendered in broad, sweeping striated locks radiating from the crown, terminating in a large circular coil or spiral element. The flan is irregular and the relief is blurred throughout, consistent with production from a cast mold taken from a genuine prototype. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Eagle standing left on thunderbolt, wings partially spread, rendered in a schematic and degenerate style typical of contemporary Ptolemaic counterfeits. A palm frond or branch appears to the right of the eagle. The field is flat and the overall relief is shallow and poorly defined, with the flan edges irregular and showing casting seam traces. No legible legend is present. |
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| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Ptolemaic copper coinage presents persistent attribution headaches — without a regnal numeral or epithet, "Ptolemy" as an issuer attribution spans nearly three centuries of a dynasty that reused names with maddening consistency across fifteen rulers. The series was struck on a closed currency system: foreign coins brought into Egypt were compulsorily exchanged, making Ptolemaic bronze a captive domestic currency rather than a trade piece.