294, Lot: 512. Estimate $300. Sold for $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CYRENAICA, Cyrene. Circa 37 BC. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 24.16 g, 6h). L. Lollius, magistrate. Head of Zeus-Ammon right; B (retrograde) to left, [scepter] to right / Sella curulis; ς in left field. RPC I 911; Asolati 144; Müller, Afrique 385; SNG Copenhagen 1305-6 var. (letter on rev.). Near VF, dark greenish-brown patina. Rare.

RPC (p. 219) notes: “This issue is difficult to date. The sella curulis marks the coinage as prominently Roman, but the omission of any Roman titulature is peculiar. Grant might be right when he says that this feature would be incorrect in a regular Roman province, but understandable in a royal territory. He has therefore suggested that this issue could fall between the acquisition of the joint province by Cleopatra in 37 BC and the gift of Cyrenaica alone to Cleopatra Selene in 34 BC."