Unpublished Ilium

CNG 97, Lot: 472. Estimate $500. Sold for $6830. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TROAS, Ilium. Commodus. As Caesar, AD 166-177. Æ (30mm, 14.37 g, 12h). Bareheaded and draped bust right / IΛI–Є/ΩN, Ilus reclining right, looking toward figure of Zeus descending from heavens, holding Palladium in right hand and scepter in left; to right, cow suspended from tree, being sacrificed by a man who clutches its horn with left hand and holds a sacrificial knife in right. Unpublished in the standard references, but cf. Bellinger T176 for same obv. die. VF, dark green patina, slightly double struck. Remarkable mythological scene.