Wx: AmSn oe “HAMPSEIRE - INTER. iii, | “Two RECENT EGYPTIAN , i - oe _HOARDS a Cie eae EDWARD - NEWELL ‘THE ‘AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY _ BROADWAY AT I56TH STREET = ae NEW YORK Oe eee ane in ne -PUBLICATIONS The American igen of Nohalamation, e 1866-1920. ty Monthly, May, pee agar 1870, Quarterly, July, 18 76--October, 1912, sey, 1913-1920. With. many plates, illdeteeoes: maps and tables. Less than a dozen complete sets of the Jour- nal remain on hand. Prices on application. The numbers necessary to complete broken sets — may in most cases be obtained. An index to the first fifty volumes has been issued as part of Volume LI. It may also be pur- chased separately for $3, .00. The American Numismatic Society. Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Contempo- rary Medals. March, 1910. New and revised edition. New York. tort. xxxvi, 412 pages, 512 illustrations. $10.00. The American Numismatic Society, Exhibition | of United States and Colonial Coins. 1914. vii, 134 pages, 4o plates. $1.00. ~~ NUM&SMATIC NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS Numismatic Notes AND MONOGRAPHS is devoted to essays and treatises on sub- jects relating to coins, paper money, medals and decorations, and is uniform with Hispanic Notes and Monographs published by the Hispanic Society of America, and with Indian Notes and Monographs issued by the Museum of the American Indian—Heye Foundation. PUBLICATION COMMITTEE AGNES BALDWIN Brett, Chairman W. GEDNEY BEATTY Henry RusseELtt DROWNE Joun REILiy, Jr. EDITORIAL STAFF SypnEyY Putte Nor, Editor Howtanp Woop, Associate Editor tye RECENT EGYPTIAN HOARDS oy = BY Pe & 3 WY EDWARD T. NEWELL & i e gf Oo oo US ll SS oe e) —J S SS = m= THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY BROADWAY AT I560TH STREET NEW YORK 1927 3 i Ps : & ans : & & we nar AG , TPP Pipe per ee? ABNSS § Ynrae C. I. Ll TWO EGYPTIAN HOARDS I TWO RECENT EGYPTIAN HOARDS By Epwarp T. NEwELt. it Peo tA HOARD Except for a short notice in The Numismatist (March, 1924, p. 301) the writer has not since had the leisure to discuss two rather interesting hoards which he met with during his last so- journ in Egypt in the winter of 1923-4. These two hoards, while not perhaps of any very great moment, none the less give us very welcome glimpses as to just what periods of her history under the Ptolemies. Incidentally, they may also Meow ATIC. NOTES TWO EGYPTIAN HOARDS serve to affirm or correct certain datings and attributions suggested by previous students of the somewhat intricate prob- lems presented by the various Ptolemaic coinages. For all information concerning the earliest of these hoards the writer is in- debted to Dr. Eddé of Alexandria, through whose hands these particular coins first passed. Such pieces as still remained in his possession in December, 1923, he kindly showed the writer, in- forming him at the same time that cer- tain specimens which had appeared in Ciani’s Sale, held on October 16th, 1923, at the Hotel Drouot in Paris (and which sale the writer had himself chanced to attend), had also originally been in the find. The exact time and locality of the discovery Dr. Eddé did not know or pos- sibly, for obvious reasons, did not care to divulge. Briefly stated, the coins had been brought to him early in 1923 by some peasants of the Egyptian delta who said they had found them while working their fields. More precise information NUMISMATIC NOTES DELTA HOARD OF 1923 hte would not probably, in any case, add very greatly to the scientific value of our lit- tle hoard. According to Dr. Eddé the “find’, as sold to him by the peasants, consisted of the following twenty-one pieces: Protemy II PHILADELPHUS. 285-246 B. C. 1 Phoenician tetradrachm. Diademed head of Ptolemy Soter to r. Rev. Eagle standing to 1. Of “Asiatic” style, according to Dr. Eddé. BrERENICE II, WIFE oF PTroLtemy III EUERGETES. 246-221 B. C. 2 Veiled bust of the queen to r. in circle of dots. Rev. BASIAISZHE on r., BEPENIKH® on 1.. Cornu- copiae adorned with diadem and flanked by the wreath-encircled Gapes oo ine | Dioscuri. -. Attic pentadrachm. Gr. 19.27. Worn very slightly. Svoronos No. 989. Now in the author’s collection. Poate J, 1. WN De ON OGRA PHS 4 i TWO EGYPTIAN HOARDS ") 4-6 NUMISMATIC Kia Similar to the preceding. two-and-a-half drachma piece. 10.38. Slightly worn. Svoronos No. 990. Ciani’s Sale, Oct. 16th, 1923, No. 66. Now in the author’s collection. PLate I, 2. PtoLtEMY IV PHILOPATOR 221-204 B. C. Jugate busts of Serapis (adorned with the laurel wreath and the “pshent”) and Isis (adorned with wheat ear and solar disk with uraei) to r. in circle of dots. Rev. ITTOAEMAIOY on 1., BASITAEQS on r. Eagle with head reverted standing to 1. upon a thunderbolt and bearing upon his’ shoulder double cornucopiae adorned with a diadem. Between the eagle’s claws: XE. Phoenician tetradrachm. Very fine or uncirculated. 4. Naville Sale X,/ No: -1620);°oR eaailauu: Same sale, No. 1630; gr. 13.50. 6. Another, now in the author’s collection, gr. 14.21. Prate I, 3. DELTA HOARD OF 1923 5 7-20 Similar to the preceding except that AI is between the eagle’s claws. Svoronos No. 1124. 7. Ciani Sale, ee 1023, No. 67. (Pl, iii). peesame. sale, No, 68 (PI. iii). 9) Same sale, No. 69 (PI. iii). 10. Naville X, 1626, gr. 14.10. Meese sale, 1627, gr. 13.90. IZ. Same sale, 1628, gr. 14.01. PomeNavitle, XI), 2602, gr... 13.78. 14. Same sale, 2603, gr. 14.00. Ia oame sale, 2604, gr. 13.99. 16. Same sale, 2605, gr. 14.10. 17. Same sale, 2606, gr. 13.63. fou ame sale, 2607, gr. 14.11. 19. Another is now in commerce. @eemesttnors coll.,.°gr. 14,12, Puate I, 4. Practically all of these pieces are in an uncirculated state. 21 Similar to the preceding except that XI is between the eagle’s claws and 3 tame the le field. Svoronos No. 1186. Naville Sale Seino 1631, er. 13.906) (— Ciani’s Baleoct: 116, 1923; | No. 70, Plate iii). Practically uncirculated. AND MONOGRAPHS i 6 TWO EGYPTIAN HOARDS All of these coins, with the sole excep- tion of No. 1 which had previously been disposed of, were actually seen and handled by the present writer. Their unt- form appearance and type of oxidization with sufficient clearness betokened their common origin from a single find. Nos. 2 and 3, though slightly corroded, were in good condition but showed signs of circulation. Nos. 4 to 21, though simi- larly attacked by corrosion had obviously been in a brilliant state of preservation when their original owner had seen fit to bury them some twenty-one hundred odd years ago. The Berenice coins Nos. 2 and 3, al- though very rare are, none the less, well known varieties] struck in the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes in honour of his beautiful and able wife Berenice, daugh- ter of Magas of Cyrene. Nos. 7 to 20 in- clusive, struck by Ptolemy IV Philopator, are also well known, no less than eigh- teen specimens of this particular variety having been recorded by Svoronos. ? The same is true of No. 21, of similar NUMISMATHIC NOW DELTA HOARD OF 1923 types but coined in the mint at Sidon. Nos. 4 to 6 inclusive, on the other hand, present a new variety of the Serapis and Isis type in that they have the monogram SE between the eagile’s claws instead of the more usual AI. This may, perhaps, be looked upon as the first issue of Ptolemy IV’s reign as there is in existence a single specimen* of the coinage with his mother’s portrait bearing the same mono- gram. This latter coin could not very well have been issued by Ptolemy IV him- self as he had but just caused Berenice’s assassination when he came to the throne following his father’s demise in 221 B. C. One might suppose, therefore, that the Berenice coin had been struck under Euergetes, immediately preceding his death, and that its magistrate NE con- tinued to function for a while under Ptolemy IV. It is also possible, though hardly probable, that Nos. 4 to 6 (to- gether with the above-mentioned Berenice coin) were not coined at Alexandria at all but belong to the Cyrenaic mint where we know ® that bronze coins with a simi- AY VeMONOGRAPHS 8 TWO EGYPTIAN HOARDS lar monogram were being struck at this time. Be this as it may, the sudden ap- pearance of certain Serapis and Isis tetradrachms with the XE monogram would confirm Svoronos’ hesitating re- moval © to the reign of Philopator of at least the bulk of the large series of bronze coins bearing this same mono- gram which he had at first assigned to the reign of Euergetes (his Nos. 992- 994). That the tetradrachms bearing the jugate busts of Serapis and Isis really belong to Philopator’s reign was first correctly recognized by Svoronos* and hardly requires further discussion. The special honours paid to these divinities by Philopator 8 and the dedication of their joint temple at Alexandria ® amply ex- plain and date the sudden appearance of this interesting and novel type on the. Ptolemaic coinage. That these particular coins should occur in a hoard mixed with Berenice issues still further supports Svoronos’ attribution. On the other hand, the unearthing of two more specimens of the Berenice type NUMISMATIC WO DEVE nuARD OF 1923 in Egypt itself rather seems to do away, once and for all, with Svoronos’ some- what hazardous attribution of these coins to the mints of Ephesus and Seleucia on the Orontes.19 Svoronos himself re- cords 4! the finding of two specimens in Egypt—the only definite provenience which he deigns to give us at all—but, obviously to save his own view-point, states that these coins are especially fre- quently found in the coastal districts of Asia Minor.12 Unfortunately: he neg- lects, or is unable, to furnish us with any definite proof of his assertion. In con- trast to this vagueness it is possible to show that at least nine of the known gold and silver Berenice coins have turned up in Egypt. One of the gold dodeca- drachms and two of the silver penta- drachms from the Dupré and Gréau col- lections are stated by C. W. Huber in his “Zur alten Numismatik Aegyptens” 18 to have been found while excavating the Suez Canal. A specimen of the gold octodrachm in Huber’s own collection is said by him !4 also to have been found in SD MONOGRAPHS TWO EGYPTIAN HOARDS Egypt. Furthermore, according to Hu- ber,!4@ Rev. Reichardt’s example of the gold pentadrachm was purchased by him in Cairo. Of the three gold Berenice coins in the present writer’s collection two (similar to Svoronos Nos. 973 and 982) were actually purchased in Cairo, and one of these was claimed by its former owner to have been found at Ebtu in Upper Egypt early in 1923. The third coin (= Svor. No. 972) there is good reason to believe was found at Heliopolis near Cairo. Thus, together with the two Berenice silver coins in the present hoard, we possess more or less authentic rec- ords of no less than nine of the known Berenice coins having turned up in the land of the Nile. Certainly their style and fabric is not Asiatic but typically Egyptian. Unfortunately our hoard brings us no new evidence by which we may explain the sudden and anomalous occurrence of coins of Attic weight in the Egyptian series nearly a century after that system had been definitely abandoned by Ptolemy | NUMISMATIC N ORES DELTA HOARD OF 1923 I Soter. Its reappearance may have been occasioned by certain exigencies of trade or of politics of which we know nothing or can offer, at best, only vague surmises upon which to work. It is to be hoped that the future discovery or decipherment of contemporary papyri may throw some welcome light upon so difficult and puz- zling a question. Perhaps the wide-flung and successful campaigns of Ptolemy III through the very heart of the Seleucid empire (where the Attic weight system was at this time universally used), or the bringing back to Egypt by victorious soldiery of plundered Seleucid treasures may have thrown so much Attic silver and gold upon the Egyptian markets that there sprang up a demand for an inter- mediary coinage that would readily ex- change in terms of the two prevalent cur- rencies—the Attic and the Egypto- Phoenician. Not only military successes but also an increased foreign trade might have brought about a similar demand. At any rate, the Attic silver pentadrachm (such as No. 2) would represent the AND MONOGRAPHS TWO EGYPTIAN HOARDS equivalent of six Ptolemaic drachms (or one and a half of the usual current tetradrachms). The two-and-a-half At- tic drachm piece (such as No. 3) would equal three Ptolemaic drachms or three- fourths of a tetradrachm. Similarly the gold Attic two-and-a-half drachm piece (Svor. No. 979) would represent the equivalent of three Ptolemaic gold drachms, the pentadrachm (Svor. Nos. 973, 978) of six Ptolemaic gold drachms, the decadrachm (Svor. No. 972) of twelve Ptolemaic gold drachms or exactly one and a half of the ordinary gold Egyptian Mvaeta, the commonest of Egyptian gold coins and at this time struck in both single and half pieces (Svor. Nos. 1117, 1118). This expedient of issuing a coinage intermediary between the two dominant systems of the eastern Mediterranean was but ephemeral—as might have been expected. With the commencement of Ptolemy IV _ Philo- pator’s reign it was abandoned, never again to be revived. To return once more to our hoard, the NUMISMATIG AG. PETA HOARD OF 1923 E exact date of its burial can hardly be determined, any more than the causes which actually led to its interment. The uniformly splendid preservation of Nos. 4 to 21, point, however, to the early years of Philopator’s reign. For several rea- sons, with which Regling apparently agrees,1® Svoronos17 has placed the Serapis and Isis tetradrachms among the earliest issues of Philopator. Our hoard fully substantiates his views but offers nothing to fix the date of burial closer than somewhere in the first quarter, cer- tainly within the first half, of Philopator’s reign. ANDO MONO'GRAPHS TWO EGYPTIAN HOsiwe. II THE KEN ET Os kw This hoard, of small artistic but of considerable intrinsic and scientific value, would seem to have come to light some time in the first six months of 1923. It was still, for the most part, in the hands of the well known dealer in antiquities, M. Maurice Nahman, when the writer vis- ited Cairo towards the end of that same year. M. Nahman very kindly granted every facility for studying the coins and also furnished what little information is available concerning the discovery and disposal of the hoard. It is said to have been found near Keneh in Upper Egypt and was bought by M. Nahman just a month preceding the latter’s departure for Europe in July, 1923. He took the opportunity of carrying a selection of the coins with him for disposal in Paris where the present writer, a few months later, saw several specimens. Among others, one Arsinoe gold octodrachm was NUMISMATIOC RY KENEH HOARD 15 shown him by Messrs. Feuardent Fréres, two or three more by M. Clément Platt, while three octodrachms and ten silver tetradrachms appeared as Nos. 63-65, 73- 82 in the auction sale held on October 16th, 1923, by Messrs. Ciani and Florange at the Hotel Drouot. When the writer ar- rived in Cairo, M. Nahman still possessed in his trays some six or more of the gold octodrachms and about one hundred and sixty silver tetradrachms. He - also stated that, altogether, the hoard as of- fered to him had contained about forty- five gold coins (including two of the rare Arsinoe gold tetradrachms) and over two hundred silver tetradrachms and also that, so far as he knew, he had been able to secure the entire find. The coins were all without exception, both gold and silver, in the finest pos- sible condition. The silver pieces were covered with a thin layer of purplish grey oxide, while the gold pieces showed every evidence of having been buried with the silver, because their surfaces showed here and there small patches of moe MONOGRAPHS 16 [| TWO EGYPTIAN HOARDS the silver oxide where they had lain in contact with the disintegrating surfaces of the silver tetradrachms. There can be no reasonable question but that all of these coins, both gold and silver, had really come from a single find as stated by M. Nahman. Mint : ALEXANDRIA. Ptolemy VI Philometor 181/o-145 B. C. and possibly during the early years of his successor’s (Ptolemy VIII) sole reign. About forty-three Gold Octodrachms. Obv. Veiled and diademed bust of Arsinoe to r. with lotus-tipped sceptre. Behind head, K. Rev. APXINOHD £®IAAAEA®OY, around double cornucopiae filled with fruits and tied with the royal diadem. Varieties of Svoronos Nos. 1242 (Plate xl, 20-23), 1374 (Plate xlvii, 1-3), 1498 (Plate li, 17-19), 1499 (Plate li, 20-1, 24). The specimen here illustrated, PuaTeE II, 1 and 2, is in the writer’s col- lection and shows condition both before NUMISMATIO 2 GOs Ree HOARD and after cleaning. Other specimens from the hoard are illustrated in Ciani’s sale catalogue, Oct. 16th, 1923, Plate iii, Nos. 63-65. M. Nahman stated that two of the Arsinoe octodrachms in the hoard showed letters on their reverses instead of on the obverses. We probably have to do here with contemporary Cypriote issues, such as are illustrated by Svoronos on his Plates xlix-l. Unfortunately these particular pieces had been sold before the writer’s arrival in Cairo. Two Gold Tetradrachms. Types similar to the preceding. The specimen now in the writer’s collection is illustrated PLarte II, 3. About one hundred and ninety Silver Tetradrachms. Obv. Diademed head of Ptolemy I Soter, wearing Aegis, to r. Rev. ILTOAEMAIOY BAXIAEQOD around eagle standing to 1. on thunder- bolt. Three specimens in the writer’s collec- tion are illustrated Piate II, 4 and 5, AND MONOGRAPHS 18 | TWO EGYPTIAN HOARDS Prate III, 1. Similar pieces from the hoard are given in the above-mentioned Ciani catalogue, Plate iv, Nos. 73-82. Mint: 72PAPHOS, Ptolemy VI Philometor (sole reign) 163-145 B. C. One Silver Tetradrachm: Obv. Diademed head of Ptolemy | Soter, wearing the Aegis, to r. Rev. ILTOAEMAIOY BAZSIAEQD around eagle standing to 1. on a thunder- bolt. In 1. field, LAL. In r. field ITA: Specimen from the hoard in the writer’s collection, PLATE ILI, 2. Ptolemy VII Eupator. Associated with his father 146-145 B. C. One Silver Tetradrachm. Obv. Diademed head of Ptolemy I Soter, wearing Aegis, to r. Rev. ILTOAEMAIOY BAXIAEQS around eagle standing to |. on a thunder- LAM KAI bolt. In 1. field A In r. field TIA Specimen from the hoard in the writer’s collection, Pate III, 3. NUMISMATIC NGA KENEH HOARD 19 Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (Sole reign) 145-117 B. C. Two Silver Tetradrachms. © Obv. Diademed head of Ptolemy I Soter, wearing the Aegis, to r. Rev. ILTOAEMAIOY BASIAEQD around eagle standing to |. on a thunder- bolt. In 1. field, LKE. In r. field ITA. Specimen from the hoard in the writer’s collection Puiate III, 4.