Triton XXI, Lot: 172. Estimate $300. Sold for $550. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Marcus Aurelius. As Caesar, AD 139-161. Æ Hemidrachm (30mm, 11.27 g, 12h). Dated RY 17 of Antoninus Pius (AD 153/154). M AV[P]HΛIOC KA [IC]AP, bareheaded and draped bust right / Agathodaimon serpent erect right, wearing skhent, with a caduceus in its coils and facing the Uraeus serpent erect left, wearing horns and disc, with a sistrum in its coils; L I Z (date) across field. Köln 1929; Dattari (Savio) 3220 & 12299; K&G 37.75; Emmett 1904.17 (R4); Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 172 (this coin). Good VF, brown and tan surfaces with touches of red, some roughness. Very rare. Only two hemidrachms of Marcus Aurelius, as Caesar, have been sold at auction since 2000, and both had the Pharos of Alexandria reverse type.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 39 (18 September 1996), lot 1067.