Agrippa’s Naval Victory Over Antony and Cleopatra

Sale: CNG 78, Lot: 689. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2008.  Sold For $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ACHAIA, Patrai. Circa 31 BC. AR Hemidrachm (2.30 g, 10h). Agys, son of Aischrion, magistrate. Laureate head of Zeus right / ΠA monogram; AΓVC/AI-CXPI/WNOC around; all within elaborate wreath. BCD Peloponnesos 534; SNG Copenhagen 152. VF, toned.

Ex BCD Collection (not in LHS sale); Emporium Hamburg 4 (11 April 1985), lot 30.

This coin is from a massive issue that was struck in an apparent hasty manner, a fact suggested by the relatively crude dies that were often overused. Many of the known examples are poorly struck, another indication of haste. BCD suggested that this magistrate produced these coins around 31 BC, and that the elaborate, diadem-like wreath on the reverse was a reference to Agrippa’s naval victory over the forces of Antony and Cleopatra.