CNG 91, Lot: 918. Estimate $2000. Sold for $2200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Pescennius Niger. AD 193-194. AR Denarius (18mm, 2.34 g, 12h). Antioch or Caesarea mint. IMP CAES C PESC NIGER IVST AVG, laureate head right / [FID]EI EXERCITVI, three signa, the center one bearing a medallion inscribed VI/C AV/G in three lines. RIC IV 19 var. (bust type); RSC 20 var. (same); Rauch 87, lot 534 (same dies); Triton VI, lot 908; Lanz 74, lot 586. VF, dark find patina, a little roughness. Extremely rare, the eighth known with this reverse type, the fifth with this bust type.

One of Niger's rarest and most interesting reverse types. Based on information from Prof. T. Buttrey, who is preparing a die study of the coinage of Pescennius Niger, there are only eight examples with this reverse type: three with a laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust (ANS; Paris; and Gemini V, lot 817 = NAC 46, lot 615 = NAC 8, 1995, 867 = J. Schulman 243, lot 1961B = Ars Classica XVII, lot 1532), and five with a laureate head (Berlin; Lanz 74, lot 586; Triton VI, lot 908 = Berk 118, no. 399; Gemini II, lot 490; Rauch 87, lot 534; and the present coin).