CNG 100, Lot: 240. Estimate $10000. Sold for $16000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BOSPORUS. Mithradates III, with Claudius. AD 39/40-44/5. AV Stater (20mm, 7.98 g, 12h). Dated Bosporan Era 339 (AD 42/3). Laureate head right, with features of Gaius (Caligula) / BACIΛEΩC MIΘP-IΔATOV, Victory alighting left, holding wreath and palm frond; Θ ΛT (date) across field. Frolova & Ireland –; Anokhin –; MacDonald 311 (this coin cited and illustrated); RPC I –. VF, a few nicks and bruises near the edge, some light marks in the field on the obverse. Extremely rare, and apparently the only known example from this year.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams. Ex Lanz 338 (27 April 1994), lot 389, for a hammer of DM 17050.

Struck in the early years of Claudius’ reign, the portrait style for this extremely rare issue, along with that of year 338, closely resembles the portraits used on the issues of Gaius (Caligula) rather than the current emperor—not an uncommon occurrence at the Bosporan mint.