Sixth and Finest Known

CNG 96, Lot: 648. Estimate $300. Sold for $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHRYGIA, Laodicea ad Lycum. Poppaea. Augusta, AD 62-65. Æ (16mm, 4.39 g, 12h). Julia Zenonis, possibly the wife of the euergetes Julius Andronicus. Struck circa AD 62(?). Draped bust right / Aphrodite standing facing, head right, holding scepter and apple. Cf. RPC I 2924.1 = SNG von Aulock 3841 (circular legend on rev.); CNG E-128, lot 144 (same dies). Good VF, brown patina. Only two cited in RPC and three on CoinArchives. Possibly the sixth and finest known.

A rare and interesting instance of a prominent local woman signing her city’s coinage. In RPC, it is tentatively suggested that Julia Zenonis was the wife of the euergetes Julius Andronicus, with the husband being responsible for the larger module coins, either pseudo–autonomous or in the name of Nero, and the wife responsible for two smaller module types, one pseudo–autonomous and the other (as our coin) in the name of the empress Poppaea. This high honor of having her name appear on Laodicea’s coinage very likely stemmed from her belonging to the Zenonid family, one of the wealthiest and most powerful in Asia Minor.