Sale: Nomos 6, Lot: 133. Estimate CHF1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 May 2012.  Sold For CHF2200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Laodicea, Phrygia. Tiberius. 14-37. Assarion (Bronze, 16mm, 4.75 g 12), struck by the magistrate Pythes. ΠΥΘΗΣ Bare head of Pythes to right. Rev. ΔΗΜΟΣ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ Diademed and bearded head of the Demos of Laodicea to right. RPC 2902. Very rare and with a remarkable non-Imperial portrait. Attractive, blackish-green patina. Extremely fine.

From the M Collection, ex Hauck & Aufhäuser 19, 21 March 2006 266.

While the portraits of a number of Roman officials and local magistrates appeared on coins during the late Republic and on into the reign of Augustus, they very rarely appeared thereafter. This marvelous coin bears a striking portrait of Pythes, son of Pythes, a prominent citizen of Laodicea in Phrygia; his portrait is very much Julio-Claudian in style, but it shows great individuality of features.