Nomos 22

PTOLEMAIC KINGS OF EGYPT. Ptolemy I Soter, 305-282 BC. Obol (Silver, 10 mm, 0.56 g, 6 h), Paphos, after 294 BC. Head of Aphrodite Paphia to right, wearing a decorated polos, a pendant earring and a pearl necklace, most of her hair bound up on her head but a few locks falling down the back of her neck. Rev. Eagle standing right on thunderbolt. Apparently unpublished and unknown. Perfectly centered and well-struck, with very well-made types of dramatic beauty. Slight surface roughness, otherwise, extremely fine.

This unpublished silver obol, which was almost certainly struck at Paphos under Ptolemy I, had the same types as the bronze issues bearing the inscription ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ which were struck at Paphos after 294 BC (though on the bronzes the eagle faces left; see Lorber B118 and Svoronos 74). The extreme care with which this coin was struck - perfectly centered on both sides - and the great care with which the dies were prepared, suggests that this was intended as a trial issue, which was, for whatever reason, discontinued.