Kyrene, Cyrenaica (Ptolemy I Soter)

[B]Kyrene, Cyrenaica (Ptolemy I Soter; 308-305 BC.) AE Half-Unit[/B] [u]Obv[/u]: Gazelle standing, facing right; bunch of grapes and small silphium plant before; ΣΩ (ΣIOΣ) above; ground line; dotted circular border. [u]Rev[/u]: Silphium (Type IIIc, but with extra pair of leaves and auxillary umbels); dotted circular border. [u]Attribution[/u]: BMC 282, pl.25,15 (obv.),16 (rev.); Buttrey 156 var. [u]Provenance[/u]: ex. HJB Mail/Bid 159 (#497), 4.8.08; ex. John Twente Collection. [u]Weight[/u]: 6.70 gm. [u]Maximal Diameter[/u]: 17.44 mm [u]Axis[/u]: 12 [u]Note[/u]: Regarding this extremely rare issue Buttrey writes, "The gazelle/silphium halves and the crab/jerboa quarters must [follow the rare Ammon/palm tree AE issues signifying Ophellas' disasterous Carthaginian campaign (309 BC.)] on the basis of fabric: the flans continue dumpy and the reverses incuse, characteristic of the earliest Kyrenaica bronzes, but the standard is lighter than that of the first series, perhaps to a drachm weight of ca. 3.20 gm." GK283