422, Lot: 223. Estimate $100. Sold for $85. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BOSPOROS. Polemo I. Circa 15/4-9/8 BC. Æ 7 Units (20.5mm, 6.58 g, 1h). Posthumous issue, circa 9/8 BC-AD 9/10(?). Head of Perseus left, wearing winged helmet; harpa to left / Herm; royal monogram to left, filleted palm branch and Z (mark of value) to right. Frolova & Ireland Series 4, Type XIX, dies A/e (unlisted combination); Anokhin 1358; MacDonald 247; cf. RPC I p. 331. VF, brown surfaces, pit on obverse, edge a bit ragged.

The years following the death of Asander until the accession of Aspourgos were a politically unstable time to judge from the scant historical record. Frolova places this issue between the death of Polemo and accession of Aspourgos, and Macdonald notes (p. 54): “Bronze coins bearing the monogram of Polemo exist in so many varieties that it is difficult to imagine all were issued during Polemo’s short period of direct rule in the Bosporus, circa 14-8 BC. Bronze coins with Polemo I’s monogram may have continued to have been issued even after his death, possibly as late as AD 9/10.”