Sale: CNG 61, Lot: 617. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 25 September 2002.  Sold For $830. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PONTOS, Kings of. Mithradates VI. 120-63 BC. AV Stater (8.25 gm). Time of the First Mithradatic War, 88-86 BC. Istros mint. Diademed head of the deified Alexander the Great right, wearing horn of Ammon / Athena seated left, left elbow resting on shield, holding Nike in extended right hand; ÐI above knee, IS on throne, trident in exergue. De Callataÿ pg. 139 (D1/R1); SNG Copenhagen 1094 (same dies); AMNG 482. Superb EF. ($750)

The remarkably individualistic features of the portrait on this exceptional die are sometimes identified as Ariarathes IX, king of Cappadocia. Ariarathes was the son of Mithradates VI and joined his father in the invasion of Thrace in 88 BC, where he died two years later.