Exceptional Architectural Type

CNG 99, Lot: 441. Estimate $1500. Sold for $4500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PONTUS, Neocaesarea. Severus Alexander. AD 222-235. Æ (30mm, 15.36 g, 12h). Dated CY 163 (AD 226/7). Laureate and cuirassed bust right / Two-storied portico (nymphaeum?) with central arch in which stands Tyche holding rudder and cornucopia; ЄT PΞΓ (date) in exergue. Çizmeli – (D3/R– [unlisted rev. die]); Price & Trell fig. 71 (for rev.). VF, attractive earthen green patina. Fine style portrait and exceptional reverse. Very rare.

Çizmeli cites only three specimens with this reverse type, all of which were paired with a cruder obverse die engraved with a more youthful bust.

Price and Trell (pp. 43-4) include this type with other coins depicting nymphaea, but caution that “...the building at Neocaesarea resembles a gate more than a fountain and certainly does not have the spouts at the base to indicate the nature of the monument.”