Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 1502. Estimate $15000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $14500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JOTAPIAN. 249 AD. AR Antoninianus (3.67 gm). Nicopolis in Seleucia mint. Radiate and cuirassed bust right / Victory walking left, holding wreath and palm. RIC IV 2a var. (obv. legend); Bland, "The Coinage of Jotapian", Essays Carson & Jenkins, 9(a) (this coin); RSC 1a var. (same). Toned, good VF (for type), some encrustation on surface. Extremely rare. ($15,000)

Ex Hess-Leu 41 (24 April 1969), lot 448; Leu 10 (29 May 1974), lot 328; Numismatic Fine Arts 6 (27 February 1979), lot 845.

Only eighteen coins of Jotapian are cited by Bland, all of which are antoniniani. Jotapian led a short-lived revolt in Syria in the autumn of 249 while Philip I was still emperor. Little is known of Jotapian’s background. It was said that he boasted of a relationship to Severus Alexander, and his unusual name, although otherwise unknown for a man, is attested in its feminine form "Jotape" in the royal houses of Commagene and Emisa. The extreme rarity of his coins indicates that the revolt was brief, and the crude style proves that the revolt was geographically confined, for Jotapian clearly did not control a major Roman mint. Following his defeat, his head was brought to Rome and shown to Trajan Decius "as was customary, although Decius had not asked for it" (Aurelius Victor, Historiae Abbreviatae, 29.4).