302, Lot: 279. Estimate $100. Sold for $260. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHOENICIA, Orthosia. Claudius. AD 41-54. Æ (22mm, 6.49 g, 12h). Dated CY 354 (AD 42/3). Laureate head left; [L] ΔN[T] / Baal of Orthosia standing right on two griffins. Rouvier –; RPC I –; Lindgren & Kovacs 2309. Fine, dark green patina, roughness. Rare.

An issue of Nero, RPC I 4506, is dated to the Seleukid Era. Otherwise, coins of Orthosia carry dates of an uncertain era, which Seyrig thought to be Pompeian, or, on the coinage of Cleopatra, the queen’s ‘Phoenician’ regnal dates. RPC I discusses a coin Seyrig attributed to Tiberius with the date “L Δ” (year 4) before the portrait, but the authors did not think the evidence was sufficient to merit its inclusion. It was, however, included in RPC I Suppl. 2, after a coin from the McAlee collection with this date came to light, but the coin is not illustrated. As the McAlee coin is not plated, it is uncertain if it is centered properly to see the area behind the head, or if it is really a coin of Claudius dated 354.