387, Lot: 317. Estimate $100. Sold for $170. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LYDIA, Philadelphia. Gaius (Caligula). AD 37-41. Æ (18mm, 5.87 g, 12h). Zenon, grammateus and philokaisar. Bare head right / Capricorn left, with cornucopia on back. RPC I 3030. VF, dark green patina. Rare issue, one in RPC I, one in RPC supplement, and two in CoinArchives.

From the estate of Thomas Bentley Cederlind.

RPC (p. 492) notes: “A very large number of ‘magistrates’ sign the coins (of Philadelphia) under Caligula: fifteen are certainly attested for his four-year reign. They give themselves various different descriptions and titles: priest of Germanicus, Olympic victor, philopatris, grammateus, and in a number of cases philokaisar. The impression created by this variety is that the persons are mentioned just as individuals rather than as holders of any specific magistracy; alternatively, one might think in terms of a board of some kind, as at Hierapolis.”