Rare Julia Maesa Tetradrachm

355, Lot: 408. Estimate $200. Sold for $260. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Julia Maesa. Augusta, AD 218-224/5. Potin Tetradrachm (24mm, 13.59 g, 12h). Dated RY 2 of Severus Alexander (AD 222/3). IOYΛIA MAICA CEB, draped bust right / Elpis standing left, holding lotus blossom and raising a fold of her skirt; L B (date) across field. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 4221; K&G 61.9; Emmet 3053.2 = Milne 2749. VF, dark gray-brown surfaces. Rare.

From the Hermanubis Collection.

The obverse legends on nearly all of Maesa’s Alexandrian coinage style her as “mother of the camps” (MH[τηρ] CTPA[τοπέδον]), but as this coin only lists her as Augusta (CEB[αστα]), it has been attributed to the reign of Severus Alexander by Kampmann and Ganschow.