Triton XXI, Lot: 26. Estimate $2000. Sold for $5500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Vitellius. AD 69. BI Tetradrachm (27mm, 12.86 g, 12h). Dated RY 1 (AD 69). ΩΛΟΥ ΟΥΙΤ ΚΑΙΣ ΣΕΒ ΓΕΡΜ ΑΥΤ, laureate head right / Nike advancing left, holding wreath with her extended right hand and palm frond with her left; LA (date) to left. Köln 260-2; Dattari (Savio) 340; K&G 19.1; RPC I 5372; Emmett 196.1; Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 26 (this coin). Good VF, toned, some obverse encrustation. Exceptional condition for the type. Rare.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex Scandinavian Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 49, 17 March 1999), lot 1148.

Vitellius’ Alexandrian coinage is rare overall. The authors of RPC note that “as with Otho, the portrait of Vitellius does not suggest any knowledge of his appearance.” RPC cites only 18 examples of this tetradrachm variety.