Lot 4735

Description

Syria, Coele Syria, Chalkis, Cleopatra VII, (51-30 B.C.), 20-23mm, (8.03 g), Chalkis mint, issued and dated RY 21 and 6 = 32-31 B.C., obv. diademed bust of Cleopatra VII to right, many traces of BACI **L*ICCHC K**LEOPATRA*C around, rev. bare head of Mark Antony to right, around of ETOYC KA TOY KAI S **Q*EAC NEW[TEPAC], (S.-, Sear Imperators 926, BMC 15 (Berytus), Sv.1887, RPC 4771, SNG Cop. 382, Pitchfork 172). Very fine, brown patination, weak on parts of the legend, rare.

Ex Dr. Adrian Carr Collection and purchased from Dr. Robert Niels Draskowski, Germany in 2002.
The tragic love story of Mark Antony and Cleopatra has been told and retold since antiquity from Plutarch through Shakespeare to Hollywood. The suicides of Antony and Cleopatra in August, 30 B.C. brought an end not only to the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt, but to the entire Hellenistic age. In spite of their fame, few coins depicting the portraits of both Antony and Cleopatra were struck, and bronze coins like the current example from Chalkis are similar to the excessively rare silver tetradrachms struck in Antioch. Engraved during Cleopatra's lifetime under joint authority with Antony, this coin gives us a representation of how they actually appeared.