425, Lot: 337. Estimate $200. Sold for $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Marcus Aurelius. AD 161-180. Æ Diobol (22.8mm, 8.33 g, 12h). Dated RY 17 (AD 176/177). Laureate head right / Draped bust right of Sarapis, wearing an ornate kalathos, above the right foot and ankle of a statue, which is pointing to the right; before, L I[Z] (date). Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 3516; K&G 37.411 (this coin illustrated); Emmett 2254.17 (R5 = Dattari 3516). Near VF, dark brown surfaces with traces of green and red. Extremely rare. None in CoinArchives.

From the WRG Collection. Ex Kerry K. Wetterstrom Collection (Part II, Classical Numismatic Auctions XIII, 4 December 1990), lot 130.

An enigmatic type that most likely represents the colossal statue of Sarapis by Bryaxis, which is “always described as a colossus, the god’s right foot and ankle were the only parts of the statue which were within reach of the worshipper.” Since a statue of a god was “no less potent than the god himself,” and touching it “could effect a cure,” then the coin type “merely portrays a familiar but distinctive piece of religious apparatus.” (see “New and Noteworthy From Roman Alexandria: Pescennius Niger-Diadumenian” by William E. Metcalf in Greek Numismatics and Archaeology – Essays in Honor of Margaret Thompson, Wetteren, 1979, pp. 175-176).