375, Lot: 554. Estimate $500. Sold for $2285. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LYDIA, Sardis. Germanicus & Drusus. Died AD 19 & AD 23, respectively. Æ (28mm, 12.77 g, 12h). Alexander of Sardis, son of Cleon, high priest of the Koinon of Asia. Struck circa AD 23-26(?). Germanicus and Drusus, both laureate and togate, seated left on curule chairs, one holding lituus / Legend within and around combined laurel and oak wreath. RPC I 2994; SNG von Aulock 3143; BMC 104. VF, hard green patina, lamination flaw on obverse. Choice for issue.

From the estate of Thomas Bentley Cederlind. Ex Cederlind 144 (1 October 2007), no. 127; Cederlind 133 (20 December 2004), no. 95.

This issue has also been given to Pergamum, Ephesus, and Smyrna, as Sardis is only referred to on the coins as the city from which the high priest hails. However, as the authors of RPC point out, six specimens were recorded in excavations at Sardis (T.V. Buttrey, et al., Greek, Roman, and Islamic Coins from Sardis [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982], p. 50, 274). Without a proper ethnic proclaiming the authority, they may be better thought of as Koinon issues.