63, Lot: 40. Estimate $200. Sold for $140. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACE, Hadrianopolis. Caracalla. 198-217 AD. Æ 27mm (14.50 gm). Laureate head right / Triptolemos in flying winged- serpent drawn biga, raising right hand to spread seed from bag he holds in left; below, Gaia, holding two ears of grain, reclines left and holds up fold of garment to receive the seed. BMC Thrace -; SNG Copenhagen -; Mionnet I 149. Near VF, dark green-brown patina.

Triptolemos was the "Johnny Appleseed" of the ancient Greeks; a god who gave managriculture, by spreading seeds from a bag he carried in his flying biga. This reverse is an allegory of the function he performed by sowing Gaia, the earth goddess, with the seeds necessary for vegetation to exist.