| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 117 | Auction date: 22 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 563 Price realized: 1,600 GBP (Approx. 2,018 USD / 1,868 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Marc Antony and Octavia AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm of Ephesus, Ionia. Circa 39 BC. M•ANTONIVS•IMP•COS•DESIG•ITER•ET•TERT, conjoined busts of Antony, wearing ivy wreath, and Octavia to right / III•VIR• R•P•C, Dionysus standing to left on cista mystica between twisting snakes, holding sceptre. RPC I 2202; RSC 3; CRI 263; BMCRR East 136. 11.90g, 27mm, 12h. Good Very Fine. Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., E-Live Auction 6, 25 March 2023, lot 27; Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., E-Sale 52, 10 January 2019, lot 482. Following the death of Octavia's first husband, C. Claudius Marcellus, in 40 BC, her marriage to Antony sought to seal the Pact of Brundisium in which it had been agreed that Octavian would assume control of the west and Antony of the east. The striking of this type cements the agreement before the people of Ephesus, an important city, later made the capital of Asia Minor by Augustus in 27 BC. Octavia spent two winters with Antony in Athens and in 37 BC assisted in securing the Triumvirate for another 5 years at the Pact of Tarentum. Following this, Antony returned to the east and, having left Octavia behind, lived with Cleopatra in Egypt. Although they divorced in 32 BC, after Antony's defeat at the Battle of Actium and subsequent suicide, Octavia raised all of his surviving children by Fulvia and Cleopatra, along with her own. Estimate: 750 GBP |  |
