CNG 97, Lot: 486. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Antioch. Marcus Aurelius. AD 161-180. AR Tetradrachm (24mm, 13.31 g, 12h). Struck AD 178/9. Laureate and draped bust right / Eagle standing facing on thigh of sacrificial animal, head and tail right, with wings spread; six-rayed star below; above left wing, ram’s head left. McAlee 578; Prieur 163 = Hess Leu 41, lot 241. VF, three graffiti lines in right field of obverse. Extremely rare, one of two known.

McAlee’s number references the genuine Hess-Leu example, which is also cited by Prieur. McAlee’s illustration, however, is a cast of the genuine Hess-Leu coin. The cast appeared in the Nicholas V. Jamogochian Collection (Peus 340, 2 November 1994), lot 968. Peus erroneously pedigreed that coin to Münzen und Medaillen AG FPL 250 (December 1964-January 1965), no. 91. Enough subtle differences exist between the M&M and Peus specimens to conclude that they are both casts of the genuine Hess-Leu coin, but are not the same specimen.