215, Lot: 475. Estimate $100. Sold for $131. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Elagabalus. AD 218-222. AR Denarius (19mm, 2.91 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck AD 221-222. Laureate and draped bust right, with “horn” over forehead / Elagabalus standing right, holding cypress branch and sacrificing from patera over lighted and garlanded altar to right; star to right. RIC IV 131 var. (club instead of branch); Thirion 302; RSC 246 var. (same). Good VF, lightly toned.

At the age of fourteen, Varius Avitus Bassianus (Elagabalus) inherited the office of high priest of the sun-god El-Gabal at Emesa in Syria. The cult of his god was represented by a sacred stone, and in AD 219 when he moved from Emesa to Rome, he took the stone, probably a meteorite, with him. During his reign, Elagabalus devoted his efforts to the promotion of his deity. The reverse type and legend on the present coin promote his position as priest of the sun-god Elagabalus.