Unpublished Pius Tetradrachm

CNG 109, Lot: 462. Estimate $500. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. BI Tetradrachm (22.6mm, 13.39 g, 12h). Dated RY 7 (AD 143/144). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Sarapis (or Antoninus Pius–the head is mostly off the flan) driving quadriga left, saluting uncertain bust, which is facing right, above the horses; L Z (date) in exergue. Unpublished in the standard references, but see note below. VF, attractive find patina with traces of green. Extremely rare.

From the New Orleans Collection, purchased from Nilus Coins (February 2007).

Emmett does list a type for regnal year 7 (no. 1432) of “Sarapis Standing l. in Quadriga,” which he cross-references to Milne 1751. However, Milne 1754 is the same basic type as 1751, but listed with Nike flying right above the horses. A similar coin, but clearly not the present type.