Triton XXI, Lot: 106. Estimate $500. Sold for $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. BI Tetradrachm (23mm, 11.17 g, 12h). Dated RY 2 (AD 138/139). [AVT] K T AIΛ A∆P ANTωNINOC ЄV[CЄB], bareheaded bust right, slight drapery / AI ωN, nimbate Phoenix standing right; L B (date) across lower field. Köln 1290; Dattari (Savio) 2431; K&G 35.2; Emmett 1419.2; Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 104 (this coin). Near EF, toned, minor porosity. A two-year tetradrachm type for Pius (regnal years 2 and 6).

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex Joel L. Malter & Company II (The Coinage of Ancient Egypt, 23 February 1978), lot 341.

AD 139 marked the renewal of the Great Sothic Cycle, a cycle of 1461 years beginning when the star Sothis (Sirius) rises on the same point on the horizon as the sun. This tetradrachm type was initially minted in year 2 (AD 138/139), but was then reintroduced for year 6 of Pius’ reign.