Rare Usage of “L Θ” on an Alexandrian Coin
Ex Dattari

CNG 100, Lot: 1787. Estimate $1000. Sold for $2300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Severus Alexander. AD 222-235. Potin Tetradrachm (23mm, 13.83 g, 12h). Dated RY 9 (AD 229/30). Laureate and cuirassed bust right / Draped bust of Selene right; crescent moon before; L Ө (date) behind. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 4371 (this coin); Emmett 3137.9 (R5 - this coin cited); K&G 62.111. EF, gray-brown patina with traces of silvering. Very rare.

From the Syracuse Collection, purchased from Edward J. Waddell. Ex Giovanni Dattari Collection, 4371.

A rarity in the Alexandrian series is any coin with the regnal year of 9, abbreviated with its Greek letter equivalent of Θ. The ancients were as superstitious as modern man, and avoided the use of Θ as it was the first letter for Thanatos (Θανατοσ), the Greek personification of “death”. Most Alexandrian coins for regnal year 9 used the entire Greek word for nine (ΕΝΑΤΟΥ).