Triton XXII, Lot: 587. Estimate $500. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUCIS and PIERIA, Antioch. Trajan. AD 98-117. AR Tetradrachm (27mm, 15.06 g, 12h). Dated “New Holy Year” 1 (AD 98). AVT NEP KAIΣ TPAIA ΣEB ΓEPM, laureate bust right, wearing aegis / ETOVΣ NEOV IEPOV A (date), eagle standing right on thunderbolt, with wings spread; palm frond to right. Prieur 151 (this coin illustrated); McAlee 424 (this coin cited); RPC III 3508.1 (this coin, illustrated on pl. 158). Good VF, toned, some encrustation. Extremely rare obverse legend variant, 1 of only 4 cited in the recent RPC III volume.

From the Michel Prieur Collection. Ex Schweizerische Kreditanstalt 7 (27 April 1984), lot 841.

Prieur’s personal notes indicate that the reverse die used to strike this coin was previously used to strike tetradrachms of Nerva. Although the cataloger was not able to confirm this die link, Prieur had access to a wider range of specimens, having for years kept an extensive photo file of Syro-Phoenician tetradrachms and their fractions.