Barce, Cyrenaica (Heracleid, magistrate)

[B]Barce, Cyrenaica (Heracleid magistrate; 325-313 BC.) AE 21[/B] [u]Obv[/u]: Head of Zeus Ammon, facing right. [u]Rev[/u]: Standing ram, facing right; HPAKΛEIΔ (Heracleid) magistrate legend. [u]Attribution[/u]: BMC Cyrenaica 46c (Pl.XXXVII, 16P); SNG Milano 49 [u]Provenance[/u]: ex. Ancient Imports (#14538), 9.30.06. [u]Weight[/u]: 12.40 gm. [u]Maximal Diameter[/u]: 21.26 mm. [u]Axis[/u]: 12 [u]Note[/u]: "The bronze issues of the city (Barce) were sporadic, and all are very rare. One example was found in the Apollonia excavations, one appears in the Norton coins, but none in the Demeter Sanctuary. The earliest issues (Ammon/ram AE unit, horse/ram AE half-unit, and ram's head/eagle & horse/ram AE quarter-units) are similar in fabric to the earliest Cyrene AE units and quarter-units, and presumably are contemporary with them." (Buttrey, pg. 53) Four examples known (including this coin). "One example in BMC 46c, Paris. Two other examples are in Milan, SNG Milano "Cyrene" 49 (see Atti e Memorie dell'Istituto Italiano di Numismatica 8 [1934] 68), and New York, ANS Coll." (Buttrey, pg. 54) Ref: T.V. Buttrey (1997). The Bronze Coinage of Cyrenaica. In Donald White (Ed.), [i] The Extramural Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone at Cyrene, Libya Final Reports - Volume VI [/i] (pp. 35-58). University Museum Monograph, 97. Univ. of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia. In BMC-Cyrenaica, Robinson states that "HPAKΛEIΔ" is the name of a magistrate "Heracleid." The text about the coin is on pages clxxix & clxxxv. It is described as a "unit" of ~13.3 gms & minted ~322-313 BCE. No other Cyrenaican coins are described with this particular legend (John Tatman, personal communication). GK237