442, Lot: 470. Estimate $75. Sold for $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gallienus. AD 253-268. Antoninianus (18.5mm, 2.76 g, 10h). Siscia mint. Issue 3, AD 266. GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right / P M T P VII COS P P, Gallienus standing facing, head right, holding spear and parazonium; on either side of him a river-god reclines, holding a reed and resting on an urn, from which water flows. MIR 36, 1420i (same dies as illustration); RIC V (sole reign) 549 corr. (rev. legend); Cunetio –. Near VF, brown surfaces, flan a little irregular. Extremely rare, only one noted by MIR (in the BM, published in Alföldi, Studien, pl. 4, 10).

Ex Berk BBS 114 (23 May 2000), lot 430.

The two river gods are generally believed to represent the rivers Sava and Kulpa which flow together at Siscia, rather than the Rhein and Main, as suggested in RIC. The one known reverse die was also used to strike aurei (1420h). The object shown in the emperor’s left hand, described as a parazonium, is believed to be a short sword or dagger worn at the zone, or waist (Melville Jones 1990, p. 234.).