Unpublished

Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 1156. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Elagabalus. AD 218-222. AR Denarius (3.83 g, 10h). Rome mint. Struck AD 219. Laureate and draped bust right / Pietas standing facing, head left, raising both hands; altar at feet to left. Cf. RIC IV 127; cf. Thirion 126 note; cf. RSC 124 note. Superb EF. Unpublished.

RIC 127 references a denarius similar to this piece, but the obverse portrait is also wearing a cuirass, and Pietas holds an incense box. Nonetheless, both RSC and Thirion note that the RIC entry is erroneous (the denarius type does not exist), while BMCRE 154 note states that the Cohen reference for RIC 127 is wrong. The appearance of this piece, while not of the same exact types, supports the BMCRE position, that denarii with Pietas reverse do exist for Elagabalus. See also lot 1159, below, for a denarius of Julia Maesa with this same reverse type.