Word Arrives of the Death of Valerian I

442, Lot: 865. Estimate $150. Sold for $110. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BOSPORUS. Rhescuporis IV. Circa AD 242/3-276/7. BI Stater (20mm, 7.90 g, 11h). Dated BE 561 (AD 264/5). BACIΛЄωC PHCKOVΠOPIΔO, diademed and draped bust of Rhescuporis right; trident to right / Laureate and draped bust of Gallienus right; I to right, AΞΦ (date) below. MacDonald 620/3; Frolova p. 161 and plates XV-XVI (dies unlisted); Anokhin 712a. EF, darkly toned, minor spots of hard green, weak strike at periphery.

Bought from Spink, 1994. Ex Spink Numismatic Circular CII.2 (June 1994), no. 3882.

Unlike the previous year (see lot above), in which two imperial portraits appear on the reverse, MacDonald cites two reverse types for this year: one with two imperial portraits (620/1 and 620/4); the other with only one (620/3 and 620/3). As subsequent years not only a single imperial portrait – that of Gallienus – the changeover during this year suggests the the news of Valerian’s death in captivity had begun to be reported in the Roman Empire.