Sale: CNG 78, Lot: 875. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2008.  Sold For $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLANDS off CARIA, Rhodos. Rhodes. Circa 88 BC. Æ 26mm (17.44 g, 12h). Radiate head of Helios right / Rose with bud to left; thunderbolt to right. Ashton, Coinage 130b (A38/P126 - this coin, illustrated); SNG Keckman 731 (same obv. die); SNG Copenhagen -; SNG Fitzwilliam 4849 (same obv. die). Good VF, dark green patina, slight knock on edge.

Ex Aufhäuser 4 (7 October 1987), lot 128.

This coinage was struck during Mithradates VI's failed six-month siege of Rhodes in 88 BC. Unable to produce enough silver for military expenditures, the Rhodians resorted to a fiduciary bronze coinage.