Triton XXI, Lot: 23. Estimate $500. Sold for $325. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Galba. AD 68-69. Æ Hemidrachm (29mm, 17.25 g, 12h). Dated RY 2 (AD 68/69). [ΣE]POYI ΓΑΛΒΑ AY[TO ΚΑΙΣ ΣΕΒA], laureate head right / Bust of Nilus right, wearing taenia, slight drapery; cornucopia behind his right shoulder; L B (date) to right. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) –; K&G 17.25 (this coin illustrated); RPC I 5348; Emmett 178.2 (R4) = Milne 353; Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 23 (this coin). VF, reddish brown and light green patina. Very rare.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex Jean-Pierre Righetti Collection (Münzen & Medaillen Deutschland GmbH 12, with Nomos AG, 11 April 2003), lot 477.

Galba continued Nero’s emphasis on the production of billon tetradrachms at the Alexandrian mint. His bronze coinage, while not quite as rare as Nero’s, is known only from his second regnal year at Alexandria. The authors of RPC cite only five examples for this hemidrachm type, with only one other in the CoinArchives database.