335, Lot: 28. Estimate $100. Sold for $280. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BOSPOROS. Polemo I. Circa 14/3-10/9 BC. Æ 4 Units (20mm, 7.68 g, 12h). Posthumous issue, circa 8/7 BC-AD 9/10(?). Laureate head of Apollo within laurel wreath / Tripod with cover; royal monogram to left, myrtle branch and Δ (mark of value) to right. MacDonald 243. Near VF, black and reddish-brown patina, roughness.

From a European Collection of Coins of the Northern Black Sea.

The years following the death of Asander until the accession of Aspourgos were a politically unstable time to judge from the scant historical record. Macdonald notes (p. 54): “Bronze coins bearing the monogram of Polemo exist in so many varieties that it is difficult to imagine all were issued during Polemo’s short period of direct rule in the Bosporus, circa 14-8 BC. Bronze coins with Polemo I’s monogram may have continued to have been issued even after his death, possibly as late as AD 9/10, either by Dynamis or Roman officials active in the western part of the kingdom.”