CNG 109, Lot: 409. Estimate $300. Sold for $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Pergamum(?). L. Sempronius Atratinus. Quaestor, circa 42-39 BC. AR Cistophorus (26mm, 12.27 g, 11h). Cista mystica with serpent; all within ivy wreath / Two serpents entwined around bow and bowcase; ATRA monogram above, Q to left, serpent-entwined thyrsus to right. W. E. Metcalf, “A note on the later Republican cistophori,” SNR 88 (2009), pp. 205-8; Stumpf 3 (M. Antonius M.f.); SNG BN 1766-8 (uncertain quaestor). EF, lightly toned, slight reverse die shift. Bold strike.

From the Gasvoda Collection. Ex Heritage 3015 (7 September 2011), lot 23113.

See Metcalf for the assignment of this issue to L. Sempronius Atratinus. Cistophori with this monogram carry either a torch or thyrsus symbol in the reverse field. While it would seem logical to assign the former to Ephesus and the latter to Pergamum, obverse die links between the two suggest a single, undetermined mint.

From the consignor: Although the Pergamene kingdom had long before come under control of Rome, the local coins retained their Pergamene designs until the Imperatorial period when the cista mystica was reduced to being a minor symbol, only to disappear altogether under the Roman Empire.