Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 1167. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $450. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Domitian. 81-96 AD. Æ Drachm (18.45 gm). Dated RY 15 (95/6 AD). Laureate head right / Triumphal arch with three passageways; on top of the arch, Emperor in facing chariot drawn by six horses with a trophy to either side, each trophy flanked by two seated captives; pediment decorated with two inward-facing Nikes supporting a globe(?); on the sides of each passageway a statue; date across field. Köln 415; Dattari 544; Milne 532; RPC II 2728; Emmett 257(15). Fine, dark green-brown patina. ($300)

From the Tony Hardy Collection. Ex Kerry K. Wetterstrom Collection (Classical Numismatic Auctions XIII, 4 December 1990), lot 21; Empire Coins 1 (30 May 1984), lot 19.

For more information about this exquisitely detailed arch, see Fred S. Kleiner's article, "An Arch of Domitian in Rome on the Coins of Alexandria" (NumChron 1989, pp. 69-81, pl. 20-21) where he describes this type as "Domitian's arch on the coins of Alexandria surpasses all the earlier examples in the richness of its Attic statuary." Kleiner argues that the arch portrayed on this coin existed in Rome, not Alexandria, and that this arch probably did not survive Domitian's damnatio memoriae.