CNG 94, Lot: 872. Estimate $500. Sold for $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MACEDON, Philippi. Divus Augustus. Died AD 14. Æ (24mm, 7.89 g, 6h). Struck under Valerian–Gallienus, AD 253-268. DIVO AVGVSTO, radiate head right / DIVO AV PARENTI, emperor on horseback right, cloak around neck, raising hand in salute. Amandry, Res Publica, 2 (D1/R1); R. Münsterberg, “R•P•C•P” in BfM 58.5 (May 1923), p. 363, pl. 259, 6 (same dies); G. Hirsch 75, lot 842 = Glendining, 5 March 1970, lot 206 (same dies). VF, reddish-brown and green surfaces, light smoothing and tooling. Very rare – only two of the this type known to Amandry at the time of his study, one of which is in a public collection (Budapest).

From a small and enigmatic series honoring three deified emperors: Augustus, Trajan, and Marcus Aurelius. Each emperors’ coins are known from only one obverse die and are paired with a total of six reverse types, each again in only one die. Some examples bear the letters R P C P, which was only identified by O. Picard in 1988 to stand for Res Publica Coloniae Philippensium (cf. "Anaskaphes tès gallikès archaiologikès scholès stè Thaso to 1988" in To archaiologiko ergo stè Makedonia kai Thrakè 2, 1988 [Thessalonica, 1991]).