CNG 87, Lot: 896. Estimate $500. Sold for $450. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUDAEA, Caesarea Maritima. Trajan Decius. AD 249-251. Æ (29mm, 17.39 g, 6h). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Altar; behind, palm tree to left, olive tree to right. Kadman, Caesarea, 154; Rosenberger 129; SNG ANS 829. VF, dark brown patina with orange earthen highlights.

Kadman (p. 262) notes: “...it must be remembered that according to the myths of the Greeks, Apollo was born under a date-palm and an olive tree. His mother, Leto, who was known in Egypt and Palestine as Lat and in Italy as Latona, was regarded as the fertility goddess of the date-palm and the olive. We may, therefore, assume with virtual certainty, that this altar was consecrated to Apollo.”