The Ptolemaic Bronze Reverse Types

Ptolemaic Bronze Reverse Types

All content, design, and descriptions are (C)2006-10 by Daniel Wolf
All rights reserved worldwide. No copying, use, or distribution without written permission. Many thanks to additional photo contributors who are credited as shown.

This page is your second stop when identifying Ptolemaic bronze coins pictorially.
There are numerous design types and this pages presents photos of many of the types of reverse designs you are likely to encounter.

Single Eagles Single eagles, presented five different ways, are by far the most common types of reverses of Ptolemaic bronze coins. It's quite easy to recognize the single-eagle design variations using the photos in this section. Single eagle reverse designs are found on numerous Ptolemaic bronze coins of almost all sizes and together these types dominate the whole series. They are always shown standing on a thunderbolt figure held in the eagle talons. Type #5 (eagle facing right) alone is much less common and appears on only a limited number of Svoronos catalog types. The five single-eagle types are (shown from left to right here): Single Eagle Type #1: Closed wings standing facing left with head also facing left Single Eagle Type #2: Closed wings standing facing left with head turned back to the right Single Eagle Type #3: Open wing standing facing left with head also facing left Single Eagle Type #4: Open wing facing left with head also facing left Single Eagle Type #5. Any single eagle standing facing toward right
Type #1 PtolemAE Collection	Type #2 PtolemAE Collection	Type #3 PtolemAE Collection	Type #4 PtolemAE Collection	Type #5 PtolemAE Collection

Double Eagles The double-eagle reverse designs appear always with the two eagles both facing left with closed wings, with the heads also facing left. The twin eagles are, like single eagles, always seen standing on thunderbolt figures. There are some stylistic differences, shown below in two examples, between the eagle renderings on early (left) and later (right) coins. Double eagle designs are found only on larger and medium size examples.
Early Double-Eagle Reverse - Large Size Coin PtolemAE Collection	Later Double-Eagle Reverse - Medium Size Coin PtolemAE Collection

Standing Figures Standing figures are found on a small number of Ptolemaic bronzes. The types are (shown from left to right here): 1. Cult statue of Goddess Artemis - only on 5 coins (Svoronos 1005-1009), always with one of the Zeus heads (Ammon or Laureat) on the obverse. 2. City God Marathos - only on 24 coins issued at Marathos (Phoenicia), always with either a male 'ruler' bust or veiled Queen Arsinoe bust on the obverse. 3. God Nike standing - only on 4 coin types in Svoronos 4. Goddess Athena advancing - only on Svoronos 1889
Aphrodite Statue PtolemAE Collection	Marathos Standing PtolemAE Collection	God Nike Standing See Svoronos Plate 63 #20	Goddess Athena Advancing See Svoronos Plate 63 #21

Head of Male Figure Male head and bust figures are quite unusual to find on Ptolemaic bronze reverse designs. Several of these head designs occur on only a single Svoronos type. The four types are (shown from left to right here): 1. Asklepios - God of Healing - only appears on 5 types 2. Ptolemy - only on Svoronos 1137 3. Zeus - only on Svoronos 1256 4. Bust of Mark Antony - only on Svoronos 1887
Asklepios See Svoronos Plate 41 #26	Ptolemy Head Photo Courtesy CNG	Zeus See Svoronos Plate 41 #16	Bust of Mark Antony See Svoronos Plate 63 #18

Head of Female Figure Female head and bust figure reverses are quite unusual to find on Ptolemaic bronzes. Two of these head designs occur on only a single Svoronos type. If you have a coin with 'Artemis bust' on the reverse it must be one of only 2 Svoronos catalog numbers. If the reverse has the Kleopatra head then it must be Svoronos 1896 only. The Libya Head reverse figure somewhat resembles the obverse type of 'Isis Head' but the Libya Head only occurs on the reverses and only on coins that have a male 'ruler' head on the obverse. The types are (shown from left to right here): 1. Libya Head - only on 26 coins, all with a male ruler head/bust on the obverse, small to medium-sizes only 2. Bust of Goddess Artemis - only on two coins (Svoronos 8 and 1838) 3. Head of Kleopatra - only on Svoronos 1896 (with a male ruler head/bust on the obverse)
Libya Head Photo Courtesy CNG	Bust of Goddess Artemis See Svoronos Plate 36 #24	Head of Kleopatra Sorry - no photo

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