Ptolemy X Alexander I & Cleopatra Berenice, 101-88 BC, Tetradrachm

Ptolemy X Alexander I and Cleopatra III (Berenice), tetradrachm, AR, joint reign 101–88 BC, Alexandria mint, 101–88 BC, 9.71 g, 28 mm. Obverse with diademed head of Ptolemy I right, in the traditional Ptolemaic dynastic portrait type. Reverse with eagle standing left on thunderbolt; legend ΠTOΛEMAIOY BAΣIΛEΩΣ in the fields. Well-struck example with clear legend and principal devices; minor flatness consistent with the issue. Svoronos 1682; SNG Copenhagen 371.

This tetradrachm belongs to the late Ptolemaic dynastic series that maintained the established coin types of Ptolemy I and the eagle on thunderbolt as instruments of continuity and legitimacy, struck at Alexandria during the politically unstable final century of Ptolemaic rule, when royal authority was frequently contested and joint reigns and court factions played a decisive role in government and succession.