Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 1109. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LYDIA, Apollonis. Marcus Aurelius (as Caesar?). 139-161 AD. Æ 29mm (17.20 gm). Aeschrion and Hermokrates, magistrates. AV KAI M AVPHLIOC ANTWNINOC, bare-headed and draped bust right / APOLWNIDEWN across field, AP EPMOKPATOV AICXPIWNOC, Zeus standing left, holding eagle and sceptre. BMC Lydia -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -; Mionnet -. Good VF, dark brown patina. Unpublished in the major references. ($300)

The magistrate Hermokrates is known for Apollonis through several coins of Lucius Verus. The portrait and titles suggest a date late in Aurelius' service as Caesar or immediately after he succeeded Antoninus Pius in 161 AD. The second magistrate, Aeschrion, raises some intriguing questions. He is known from one other coin, also of Lucius Verus, from Apollonia, which has been identified as Apollonia Salbace in Caria, Mionnet III pg. 332, 173). It is tempting to see them as the same person. But Apollonis in Lydia and Apollonia Salbace are some distance apart, and it is difficult to see the connection. However, there are a number of other Apollonias in Asia Minor, and one of them, Apollonia on the Caicus in Mysia, is only some 20 miles from Apollonis. Perhaps the two close neighbors shared more than a similarity in names, perhaps there was a civic connection? In any case, it is not clear if any coinage has been attributed to Apollonia on the Caicus prior to this.