Triton XXII, Lot: 492. Estimate $2000. Sold for $2250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BOSPORUS. Cotys II, with Hadrian. AD 123/4-132/3. AV Stater (19mm, 7.78 g, 12h). Dated BE 422 (AD 125/6). BACIΛЄωC KOTVOC, diademed and draped bust of Cotys right / Laureate head of Hadrian right, with small globe at point of bust; BKV (date) below. Frolova A/– (unlisted rev. die); MacDonald 424; Anokhin 473; RPC III 880.4 (this coin). Good VF, minor earthen encrustation.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group 66 (19 May 2004), lot 1028.

The Bosporan Kingdom, occupying the northern coastline of the Black Sea and coastal areas around the Sea of Azov, was the longest-lived of all Hellenistic Kingdoms, lasting nearly 800 years from the fifth century BC to the later fourth century AD. With an economy based on trade in precious metals, grain, fish and slaves, the kingdom had a native population mixing a multitude of ethnicities under a veneer of Greek languague and culture. From the later first century BC, the Bosporan Kingdom could be described as a Roman “client state,” but the relationship was less subordinate than symbiotic, with the Bosporan kings requiring Roman assent to rule, and Rome relying heavily on the kings to protect the vulnerable northern frontier from hostile incursions by the Scythians and Sarmatians. Starting with the reign of Polemo I (15/14 BC-AD 9/10), the Bosporan gold coinage typically depicted the Roman Emperor and his relations and/or co-rulers.