Sale: Nomos 3 & 4, Lot: 1194. Estimate CHF400.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 May 2011.  Sold For CHF6500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Magnetes. Elagabalus. 218-222. Three Assaria (Bronze, 22mm, 7.76 g 6). ΑΥ•Κ•Μ•ΑΥΡ ΑΝΤΩΝΙΝΟC Laureate bust of Elagabalus to right, seen from behind. Rev. ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩ - Ν / ΧεΙΡΩΝ The centaur Chiron galloping to right, raising his right hand and holding a palm branch over his left shoulder with his left; above Chiron’s back, Γ (= 3); below his forelegs, lyre. Moustaka 189 (this coin, identified as Elagabalus but erroneously given the dates of the sole reign of Caracalla. A remarkably well preserved coin with a fine brown patina. Extremely fine.

The portrait on this coin is surely that of Elagabalus, rather than that of Caracalla as BCD had recorded it on his ticket (surely a slip). It is also unusually well preserved for a mainland Greek Provincial issue. The reverse representation of Chiron is boldly done and very detailed.
A note from BCD: Said to have been found in a grave in Northern Greece together with a handful of contemporary bronzes of Amphipolis and other Macedonian mints. This coin is quite a rarity, if only for its iconography and the delightfully original artwork. One of this collector’s favorite Thessalian coins from Roman times.