| Classical Numismatic Group > Electronic Auction 560 | Auction date: 17 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 432 Price realized: 275 USD (Approx. 259 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: ASIA MINOR, Uncertain. Augustus. 27 BC-AD 14. Æ (25mm, 15.94 g, 12h). Bare head right; c/m: female head right / Spear, sella quaestoria, and fiscus; Q below sella. RPC I 5409.78 (this coin); AMNG II 29 (Pella) note; FITA 13-19 (Thessalonica[?]). For c/m: Howgego –. Glossy black patina, light deposits, cleaning scratches, small flan crack at countermark. Fine. The similarity of this coin's reverse to that of Aesillas led to the earlier attribution of this issue to Macedonia. Unlike the more typical club of Hercules, the presence of a spear (hasta) suggested the issuer to be an as-yet-unknown quaestor propraetore, who, unlike Aesillas, would have held the power of imperium. Based on this assumption, Grant gave the issue to M. Acilius at Thessalonica, whom he tentatively identified as Caesar's governor of Macedonia in the final year of the Dictator's life. The style of the portrait is identical to a coin of the possible Cilician Colonia Iulia Veteranorum (RPC I 4082). That coin bears the additional obverse legend PRINCEPS FELIX, a title which clearly identifies the portrait as Augustus. Imhoof-Blumer and Grant both assigned the issue to the southwestern areas of the Black Sea, but to date no specimen of our coin has turned up in sites there, as one might expect if that region were its point of origin. Since the publication of RPC I, four specimens have been recorded in the Amasya Museum, with additional specimens in Samsun and Amasra, indicating without any real doubt an origin in northern Asia Minor. Estimate: 100 USD |  |
