After the immediate death of Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic states of the Successors formed the greatest, strongest, and richest, as known, the Ptolemaic Lagid dynasty, with Egypt as its center of prosperity. The immeasurable wealth of the Ptolemies, which was not only demonstrated by the famous procession of Ptolemy II described by the Athenian, but also reflected in their coinage. Truly, no other country in the ancient world has left us with such a large number and size of gold, silver, and bronze coins, which are found in both public and private collections, and in the homes of antiquities merchants, constantly flowing in, from astonishing discoveries in number and wealth.
Unfortunately, the scientific importance of this numismatic treasure did not correspond in the slightest to its size, and remains inferior to any other series of ancient coins to this day. Truly, while every ancient coin is a valuable source of accurate and important archaeological information, the coins of the Ptolemies can provide us with very little scientific light due to many reasons that particularly characterize this series. [...] (from the book's prologue)