CNG 90, Lot: 1004. Estimate $300. Sold for $340. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LYDIA, Sardis. Germanicus & Drusus. Died AD 19 & AD 23, respectively. Æ (26mm, 12.10 g, 1h). Alexander of Sardis, son of Cleon, high priest of the Koinon of Asia. Struck circa AD 23-26(?). Germanicus and Drusus, both laureate and togate, seated left on curule chairs, one holding lituus / Legend within and around combined laurel and oak wreath. RPC 2994; cf. SNG München 507-9; SNG von Aulock 3143; BMC 104. Good VF, dark green patina, light smoothing in fields.

From Group CEM.

This issue has also been given to Pergamum, Ephesus, and Smyrna, as Sardis is only referred to on the coins as the city from which the high priest hails. However, as the authors of RPC point out, six specimens were recorded in excavations at Sardis (T.V. Buttrey, et al., Greek, Roman, and Islamic Coins from Sardis [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982], p. 50, 274. Without a proper ethnic proclaiming the authority, they may be better thought of as Koinon issues.