Triton XXI, Lot: 262. Estimate $750. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Diocletian, with Maximianus. AD 284-305. Potin Tetradrachm (19mm, 6.80 g, 12h). Struck circa AD 298. ΔΙΟΚΛΗΤΙ ΑΝOC CЄB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / ΜΑΞIMIA NOC CЄB, laureate head right. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 5618; K&G 119.139; Emmett 4091 (R5 – citing Dattari 5618); Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 274 (this coin). Good VF, dark brown surfaces with touches of green, a bit of roughness. Extremely rare. Only two specimens known: the Dattari coin (no. 5618); and this coin.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex M&M Numismatics, Ltd. I (7 December 1997), lot 312.

This extremely rare coin is either a mule of two obverses that ‘escaped’ the Alexandrian mint, or it is part of the pattern series issued during the transitional period between the strictly Alexandrian-style coinage and the introduction of the new Roman-style coinage (e.g. folles, etc.).