Polemo II & Tryphaina
From the Niggeler Collection

Triton XVII, Lot: 245. Estimate $2000. Sold for $6500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PONTOS. Polemo II, with Tryphaina. Circa AD 38-64. AR Drachm (17mm, 3.47 g, 9h). Dated RY 14 (AD 51/2). [BACIΛEΩC] ΠOΛEMΩ-NOC, diademed head right / Diademed and draped bust of Tryphaina right; ETOYC IΔ (date) around. RPC I 3825; SNG von Aulock 6688–9; cf. SNG Stancomb 1039; BMC 2. VF, toned, off center strike, light cleaning marks. Very rare.

Ex Walter Niggeler Collection (Part I, Leu/Münzen und Medaillen, 3 December 1965), lot 580.

Antonia Tryphaina was the daughter of Polemo I of Pontos and his wife Pythodoris. She married Kotys VIII of Thrace, and bore him three sons who became kings: Polemo II of Pontos, Rhoimetalkes II of Thrace, and Kotys IX of Lesser Armenia. Although she was never queen of Pontos, she is styled as queen on some of the issues struck by Polemo. Her inclusion on the coinage of Polemo, though is understandable, as she is his connection to Roman royalty. Tryphaina is a direct descendent of Mark Antony, and a distant relative to the emperors Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, as well as the other members of the Julio-Claudian family. Other issues of Polemo feature the emperors Claudius and Nero, and possibly Britannicus, so his inculsion of Tryphaina, as his familial connection to them, would make sense. In addition to her connection to the Romans, Tryphaina was also connected by marriage or blood to many other royal houses around the Black Sea, so her image on Polemo's coins would also serve to promote his standing among the other kingdoms in the region.