Sale: Nomos 3 & 4, Lot: 205. Estimate CHF1750.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 May 2011.  Sold For CHF3100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Diocletian. AD 284-305. Argenteus (Silver, 3.35 g 12), Nicomedia, c. 295-296. DIOCLETIANVS AVG Laureate head of Diocletian to right. Rev. VICTORIAE SARMATICAE / SMNΓ Camp gate with four turrets, open doors with two leaves and star above arch of the door. RIC 25a. Very rare. A superb piece. Virtually as struck.

From the Tetrarchy Collection, New York, ex Bank Leu 71, 24 October 1997, 524 and Antiqua III, 1996, 259.

The “Tetrarchy Collection” was formed beginning in the 1990s by an individual who was fascinated by the burst of pure silver coinage that came out in the twenty year period from c. 294-314. He was lucky enough to be able to choose the best pieces from the many beautiful coins that were on the market at that time, and was able to amass a particularly fine group.