The Usurper Alexander of Carthage

CNG 90, Lot: 1713. Estimate $3000. Sold for $5000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Alexander of Carthage. Usurper, AD 308-310. Æ Follis (20mm, 3.82 g, 1h). Carthago (Carthage) mint. Laureate head right / Roma seated left in hexastyle temple, holding globe and scepter; P*K. RIC VI 75; Salama type VII, portrait style G. VF, slightly rough green-brown surfaces, fields smoothed. Extremely rare with this mintmark.

Coins of the usurper Alexander are quite rare, particularly those with the star in the mintmark, as here. Salama speculated that this might have indicated a second emission that was cut short by the death of Alexander, or a parallel emission. The lack of diversity of types under this mintmark, three compared to twelve on coins without the star, suggests that it is more likely a second, rather than parallel, emission. In total, Salama noted only seven authentic examples with this mintmark. CoinArchives has only one example of an Alexander with this mintmark, CNG 79, lot 1227, of similar quality to the present piece, which realized $5300.