Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 583. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BITHYNIA, Nicaea. Valerian I. AD 253-260. Æ 23mm (6.60 g, 12h). Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Hipparchus the Astronomer seated left; globe on pedestal to left. RG -; BMC -; SNG von Aulock 717; SNG Copenhagen -. VF, green-brown patina, minor roughness. Very rare.

From the J.S. Wagner Collection.

Hipparchus the Astronomer is honored on a few rare issues from Nicaea, where he was born circa 190 BC. His importance to classical astronomy is unsurpassed, as he compiled the first star chart, calculated the sizes of the sun and the moon, determined the length of the seasons, and utilized a trigonometry table before any other mathematician.