Triton XV, Lot: 433. Estimate $100. Sold for $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Magnetes. Julia Domna. Augusta, AD 193-217. Æ Assarion (16mm, 2.86 g, 12h). ΙΟΥΛΙΑ r. down, ΔΟΜΝΑCЄ l. up, draped bust of Julia Domna r., border of dots / ΜΑΓΝΗΤѠ l. up, ΝIOΛΚΙΑ r. down, Artemis seated l. on throne with low back, holding pomegranate (or phiale) in extended r. Franke, Αρτεμις, p. 62-64. See also Rogers 370, fig. 190 corr. [because of the pomegranate, Rogers interprets the rev. type as Aphrodite, but the inscription on the coin in his photograph says otherwise]. Good Fine, dark green patina, a very rare coin.

These small Assaria with the reverse type of Artemis Iolkia have been explained in detail in Professor Franke’s publication of the first known (see above reference). Two years later, at the auction of Professor Mabbott’s collection, three more of these small coins appeared. Together with this Julia Domna coin, they are all that is known of these rarities and have ever appeared in the market, with the exception of the Franke coin that is duplicated here from a specimen of the same dies.