442, Lot: 304. Estimate $100. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gallienus. AD 253-268. Antoninianus (22mm, 3.36 g, 12h). Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne) mint. Struck AD 257-260. IMP GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right / RESTITVT GALLIAR, Gallienus standing left, holding spear, raising kneeling figure of Gaul. MIR 36, 878f; RIC V (joint reign) 30 var. (emperor holds sceptre); Cunetio –; Stevenage –. EF, toned, edge split. Extremely rare, only one noted by MIR (in the BM).

Bought from Manton Associates, 1992.

All catalogues describe the object held by the emperor as a sceptre, but on this coin it is clearly a spear, with point upwards.