258, Lot: 515. Estimate $100. Sold for $260. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Time of Heraclius. 610-641. Æ 12 Nummi (22mm, 13.20 g, 5h). Alexandria mint. Struck 618-628(?). Draped facing bust (of Khosrau II?), wearing crown surmounted by cross within crescent; star to left, crescent to right / Large I B; cross potent on globe between; AΛEΞ. Bates, Copper issue UI; DOC 192; MIB 202a; SB 856. Near VF, porous brown patina.

Although usually assigned to the Persian occupation of Egypt, Bates highlights a number of problems with such an attribution. He dismisses the interpretation of the crescent and star as specifically Persian, arguing that the symbols were ubiquitous in the ancient eastern Mediterranean.