PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM OF EGYPT: PTOLEMY I SOTER BRONZE AE 25
Highly Sought-After "No Centering Hole" Variant – Choice Early Empire Strike
NUMISMATIC SPECIFICATIONS:
- Ruler: Ptolemy I Soter (As King, 305–283 BC)
- Period / Date: Early Hellenistic Period / Struck circa 305–283 BC
- Mint: Alexandria (Egypt)
- Denomination: AE 25 (Bronze Obol / Large Module Unit)
- Weight: ~14.0–15.0 grams (Nominal AE 25 standard)
- Grade: Fine (F) – Balanced, honest ancient circulation wear. The classic portrait contours of Alexander and the bold lines of the open-winged eagle remain highly distinct.
- Flan Characteristic: NO CENTERING HOLE – Highly uncommon collector's premium asset. It completely lacks the deep, invasive mechanical lathe dimple that disrupts the central designs on nearly all surviving Ptolemaic bronzes.
ICONIC FOUNDATIONAL DESIGN:
- Obverse: Deified head of Alexander the Great facing right, wearing a highly detailed elephant-skin headdress celebrating his legendary conquests into India. He features the royal horn of Ammon coiled around his ear and is draped in a scaled aegis tied at the neck. Bound securely by a dotted border.
- Reverse: A magnificent Ptolemaic dynastic eagle standing left on a horizontal thunderbolt with its wings completely open / spread. Stamped in the left field with an elegant, upright cornucopia (horn of plenty). Encircled by the authoritative Greek legend ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ (Of King Ptolemy).
- Reference Catalogs: Svoronos 762 variant (Motif crossover); Lorber CPE B88; SNG Copenhagen 76 variant.
WHY ADD THIS TO YOUR COLLECTION?
Following the death of Alexander the Great, his brilliant general Ptolemy I seized Egypt, eventually declaring himself King and establishing antiquity's most enduring Hellenistic empire. To cement his imperial legitimacy, Ptolemy I did not display his own face on early bronzes; instead, he struck currency featuring the divine, deified image of Alexander clad in an elephant scalp headdress.
This specific specimen is heavily insulated from ordinary bulk lots by two major numismatic factors. First is the reverse layout: the eagle is depicted with wings dynamically spread wide open, heavily contrasted against the common closed-wing configurations of later reigns. Coupled with the cornucopia in the left field, this represents a highly artistic early layout from the Alexandria mint workshops.
Second, this example is explicitly a "No Hole" variant. The production lines in Alexandria utilized heavy centering lathes that drilled an unsightly circular punch directly through the center of almost every coin block. To find a heavy, large-module AE 25 coin that completely bypassed this crude mechanical puncture leaves Alexander's royal portrait and the eagle's body beautifully unbroken and pristine.