Rare and Intriguing Issue

370, Lot: 271. Estimate $100. Sold for $170. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LYDIA, Philadelphia (as Neocaesarea). Tiberius Gemellus(?). Caesar, AD 35-37. Æ (14mm, 2.82 g, 12h). Bare head right / Winged thunderbolt. LS 24 (under Tiberius Gemellus; same obv. die as illustration); RPC I 3017 (under Tiberius; same obv. die as illustration); Vagi 480 (under Tiberius Gemellus; same obv. die as illustration). VF, green patina, some cleaning marks. Rare.

The attribution of this coin is complicated by the celator’s recutting of the single obverse die used to strike this issue. While it is possible that the letter traces could read CEBACTON, the authors of RPC note that this reading, as well as the identification with Tiberius Gemellus, is uncertain.