Changing of the Seasons

CNG 91, Lot: 715. Estimate $500. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Domitian. AD 81-96. Æ Diobol (23mm, 6.13 g, 12h). Dated RY 11 (AD 91/2). Laureate bust right, wearing aegis / Agathodaimon serpent on horseback advancing right; L IA (date) below. RPC 2584; Köln 378-9 var. (no aegis); Dattari (Savio) 564; K&G 24.150. Good VF, green-brown patina, traces of earthen deposits. Rare.

From the Greenpoint Collection. Ex Group CEM (Classical Numismatic Group 88, 14 September 2011), lot 1078; Münzen und Medaillen AG FPL 457 (July 1983), no. 24.

The changing of the seasons is represented by the horse. Regeneration or rebirth of the crops is represented by the serpent. All of Egyptian life was dependent on this cycle.