Sale: CNG 60, Lot: 1238. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 May 2002.  Sold For $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHRYGIA, Hierapolis. Nero. 54-68 AD. Æ 19mm (5.72 gm). Bare headed and draped bust right; c/m: radiate bust of Helios(?) right / The Rape of Persephone: Hades in galloping quadriga right, carrying Persephone; Eros flying above, overturned cista mystica below horses. RPC I -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC Phrygia -, but see pl. XXXI, 9-10 for same obverse die; c/m: Howgego 11. Coin good VF, c/m Fine, brown patina with earthen highlights. Extremely rare and possibly unique. ($300)

From the David Simpson Collection.

Hades fell in love with Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, and asked Zeus for permission to marry her. Zeus feared to offend his eldest brother by a downright refusal, but knew also that Demeter would not forgive him if Persephone were committed to the underworld. Zeus "therefore answered politically that he could neither give nor withhold his consent." This emboldened Hades to abduct Persephone, as she was picking flowers in a meadow, and carry her away in his horse-drawn chariot to the underworld.