382, Lot: 272. Estimate $300. Sold for $410. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHOENICIA, Tyre. Valerian I. AD 253-260. Æ (27mm, 12.95 g, 12h). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Sacrifice to Astarte: in upper register, Astarte standing left, placing hand on trophy and being crowned by Nike on column; Marsyas standing at Astarte’s feet, murex to right of column; in lower register, four Tychai, the first (from left to right) raising right hand, the second raising up dish, the third pouring libation over altar, and the fourth raising right hand. Unpublished in the standard references. Fine, earthen green patina.

Similar sacrificial scenes appear on coins of Philip I, Otacilia Severa, and Trebonianus Gallus.