Triton XXI, Lot: 24. Estimate $750. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Galba. AD 68-69. Æ Diobol (26mm, 11.02 g, 12h). Dated RY 2 (AD 68/69). ΣEPOYI ΓΑΛΒΑ AYTO ΚΑΙΣ ΣΕΒA, laureate head right / Draped bust of Isis right, wearing taenia and crowned with disk and horns; L B (date) to right. Köln 241-2 & 3451; Dattari (Savio) 320-1; K&G 17.26 (this coin illustrated); RPC I 5351; Emmett 179.2; Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 24 (this coin). Good VF, even brown surfaces. Very rare and exceptional condition for the type.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex Jean-Pierre Righetti Collection (Münzen & Medaillen Deutschland GmbH 12, with Nomos AG, 11 April 2003), lot 478; reportedly ex August Voirol Collection; Dr. Hans Steger Collection (Münzhandlung Basel 6, 18 March 1936), lot 137.

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 thirteen examples for this diobol type, with only two others in the CoinArchives database.