PTOLEMY II SILVER TETRADRACHM – STUNNING DOUBLE STRIKE ERROR EX SAMUEL POZZI AND VIRGIL BRAND COLLECTIONS – GOOD VF NGC GRADED GREEK PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM COIN (Inv. 19979)

RESERVED

19979. EGYPT. PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM. PTOLEMY II, 285/4–246 BC.
Silver Tetradrachm, 14.16 g, 26 mm. Issue of Tyre, regnal year 34 (252/1 BC).
Obv. Diademed bust of Ptolemy I right, with aegis around neck. Rev. ΠTOΛEMAIOY ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ, eagle standing left on thunderbolt, TYP monogram (for Tyre) above club in left field, Λ (date) above AB monogram in right field, HP monogram between eagle’s legs.
CPE 605; Svoronos 682; SNG Copenhagen –.
Private American Collection, acquired from Ed Waddell = ex Virgil Brand Collection, Sotheby’s, Part 5, 2/1/1984, lot 285 = Ex Samuel Pozzi Collection, Naville 3/14/1921, lot 3215.
Good VF, light gray cabinet toning, a spectacular rotated double strike error where Ptolemy’s face from the original strike appears shifted upward in its entirety.

This impressive double striking error may illustrate extra hasty production at the mint to meet the costs associated with the end of the Second Syrian War (260–253 BC) between Ptolemy II and Antiochus II. After sustaining numerous losses to the Ptolemaic overseas territories, Ptolemy II sued for peace with the Seleucid king. The final settlement in 252 BC involved the marriage of Antiochos II to Ptolemy’s daughter Berenice, who brought so much territory and wealth to the Seleucid kingdom that she was often nicknamed Phernephoros (“Dowry–bearer”).
The coin was part of two great collections – its first owner, as far as we know, was France’s top surgeon and gynecologist, Dr. Samuel J. Pozzi. Pozzi’s collection was sold in 1921 by Naville, whose entry noted that this was a double strike. This coin, along with many others, was purchased at the Naville sale by Virgil Brand of Chicago. Brand assembled a truly encyclopedic coin collection from ca. 1889 to his death in 1926. The Brand collection was passed on to his family and part of it was sold by the estate of his niece, Jane Brand Allen in the early 1980s in a series of Sotheby’s sales. The Pozzi–Brand Ptolemy was featured in part of Part 5 of these auctions.
Unlike many other double–struck coins that are often muddled visually because of the overlapping image, this piece is remarkable in that its second strike was applied dead center, and Ptolemy’s face from the initial strike appears unaffected at the edge of the planchet. It should also be noted, that judging by the material offered by Naville, this is the only “error” coin Dr. Pozzi owned, suggested that he must have found the visual appearance of the error very compelling.