216, Lot: 382. Estimate $150. Sold for $370. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHOENICIA, Orthosia. Claudius. AD 41-54. Æ 21mm (6.90 g, 12h). Dated SE 354 (AD 42/3). Laureate head left; [L] Δ-NT (date) across fields / Baal of Orthosia driving chariot pulled by two griffins. Unrecorded in the standard references. VF, dark green patina.

An issue of Nero, RPC I 4506, is dated to the Seleukid Era. Otherwise, coins of Orthosia carry dates of an uncertain era, which Seyrig thought to be Pompeian, or, on the coinage of Cleopatra, the queen’s ‘Phoenician’ regnal dates. RPC I discusses a coin Seyrig attributed to Tiberius with date L Δ (Year 4) before the portrait, but the authors did not think the evidence was sufficient to merit its inclusion. It was, however, included in RPC I Suppl. 2, after a coin from the McAlee collection with this date came to light, but the coin is not illustrated. The present coin shows traces of the L before the Δ, with a very clear NT behind the head (equalling 354). As the McAlee coin is not illustrated, it is uncertain if it is centered properly to see the area behind the head, or if the McAlee coin is really a coin of Claudius dated 354.