Exceptional Pharos of Alexandria

Triton XX, Lot: 476. Estimate $7500. Sold for $9500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Drachm (34mm, 27.75 g, 12h). Dated RY 18 (AD 133/4). AVT KAIC TPAIAN • AΔPIANO[C CЄB], laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Isis Pharia standing right, holding billowing sail with both hands; to right, the Pharos of Alexandria: high tower with entrance to right at base and decorated with bosses along sides and surmounted by lantern room, decorated at base by Tritons blowing horns and itself surmounted by statue of Poseidon(?); L IH (date) above. Köln 1121-1122 var. (entrance to Pharos at base to left); Dattari (Savio) 7721 var. (same – same obv. die); K&G 32.588; cf. BMC 757; Emmett 1002.18. EF, dark brown patina with touches of red. One of the finest examples of this type known.

From the Kallman Collection. Ex Triton XIV (4 January 2011), lot 720 (hammered at $13,000).