Help Me Pull The Trigger

I don't think the two coins are the same at all, worn or not. Too many differences in the details.

That's an excellent price for one in this nice of condition. Yes it's lifetime and genuine.

OK, I'm confused which is often the case. The very first coin a beautiful drachm, is that the coin for $45. Or is the worn and porous one the $45 coin?

If that's the case the second is the Ptolemy I AE drachm. Coins of the Ptolemies can go as large as 48mm. If that's the case I would go for the second coin and wait for a better example to show up on the first.







Lifetime issue drachm from my collection.







Posthumous tetradrachm from my collection.

For the money the Ptolemy is the one to buy. But I am very partial to bronze. In fact if I was not 'on the wagon' I would snatch this one before you made up your mind !
Ninety nine percent of Alexanders coins depict "Herakles" wearing a lion skin (only) while this one depicts him with elephant tusks too! In case you are unaware Ptolemy I wrote the authoritative bio of Alexander which unfortunately is now "lost". He is the one depicted in the movie as narrating the story (Anthony Hopkins) and was one of the Macedonian Generals who accompanied him throughout his career. With this coin you get two for the price of one.
The dimples as stated above are somewhat a mystery. Large bronzes from Egypt often show signs of having been 'edged'. The edges show file marks or are otherwise scraped by a tool. My own examples show misalignment of the dimples and I doubt the idea that a lathe was used. If you try holding a bronze disk with two pins the disk will not hold still anyway but rather stop when a cutter is applied. Personally I believe it to be a mark left by a 'pin' used to eject the planchet from the die (but that is another story).
Long and short I would grab the Ptolemy. This is a very nice piece and even in the unlikely event it was not appreciated could be resold for at least as much money on ebay !
For me the choice is not even close between a worn out drachm and a very desirable large sized (24mm) bronze issue.

The silver is $45. The bronze is $40. I'm looking to have one of each type.

The first appears to be lifetime, which is the biggest deal for me. I like the test cut and I don't think I mind the condition at $45. I guess I can keep my eyes open though if that's what you guys recommend.

Is the second coin definitely Ptolemy I? It's listed as such, but definitely looks just like that Ptolemy II posted by ThisIsFun.

My end goal is one of each, and for less than $100 for both, that would be awesome. I do especially like how it has a test cut, whether that's a positive or a negative to serious collectors, I prefer it.

I would add that I am suspicious of beaten up silver coins. Silver coins circulated much less than bronze and silver in this rough a condition is not very common. Some silver and gold coins of antiquity look almost AU/Unc as they were "rat holed" away and rarely saw the light of day. Some modern 'fakes' have been artificially roughed up to disguise any tell tale signs of deceit. A coin a rough as the one you show may well be genuine ...... or it may be a modern fake made to look ancient.

Iod254, good question about Ptolemy I or II. Honestly, I bought this coin before I was in the habit of verifying the seller's attribution. In this case, the seller was Roma Numismatics.

I'm looking at Svoronos now and their attribution may be incorrect. In fact, I'm going to dig out that coin so that I can measure and weigh it myself because at the moment it is not fitting nicely with any given Svoronos example. With the anepigraphic obverse, lambda between eagle's legs, and lack of field symbols, it might be Sv482 or 483 (both Ptolemy II) but size-wise, it's a 'tweener.