340, Lot: 290. Estimate $100. Sold for $120. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Coele-Syria. Heliopolis. Valerian I. AD 253-260. Æ (27mm, 16.12 g, 12h). Struck AD 256/7. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / Two temples in three-quarter perspective, vis-à-vis; above, agonistic crown with palms. Sawaya 647-9 (D100/R235); SNG München –; SNG Copenhagen –. Near VF, brown patina.

From the collection of a Southern Pathologist. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 57 (28 March 2001), lot 879.

There were two principal temples at Heliopolis, one dedicated to the goddess Venus, the other to the god Jupiter, both of which still exist today. This coin presumably shows these two temples. Interestingly, instead of making the two temples exactly the same as was typically done when engraving coin dies, the engraver attempted an uncharacteristic realism by engraving what he saw; i.e., the temple of Jupiter is the nearer of the two, and is larger than that of Venus.