The ‘Galatian Shield without (sigma)’ Series of Ptolemaic Bronze Coins
- ️https://independent.academia.edu/danielwolf
2012, Numismatic Chronicle 171 - 2011
PLEASE SEE ALSO: "The Sicilian Ptolemaic Bronzes and the Coinage of Hieron II of Syracuse" which is essential to understand this important group of bronze coins. The new (2022) paper supercedes (correcting erroneous conclusions and incomplete analyses in) this earlier (2011) paper. You may view and download the new paper on this Academia web page (above). ........................................... Abstract: UNDER Ptolemy I and in the first half of the reign of Ptolemy II, the most common bronze denomination featured a laureate head of Zeus on the obverse and an openwinged eagle, standing on a thunderbolt, on the reverse. These coins are typically 28mm in diameter and probably had the face value of a diobol. An important series of these coins, minted at Alexandria under Ptolemy II, features the (SIGMA) sign above an oval shield in the reverse left field. Our investigation concerns a special class of these presumed diobols that exhibits unusual properties. The mark of this particular series is an oval shield to the left of the eagle, without the (SIGMA) sign above it. The ‘Galatian shield without (SIGMA)’ series is distinguished from the regular coinage of Ptolemy II in part by style, borders, die axes, fabric, and control convention, and in whole by provenance, metrology, and the lack of fractional denominations. Through a comprehensive analysis of the properties of these issues, examining their relationships to one another and to other mintages, we have reached a new understanding of this unusual coinage.
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