Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 719. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $2600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BITHYNIA, Cius. Antinoüs, favorite of Hadrian. Died 130 AD. Æ Medallion (37mm, 33.62 gm, 6h). ANTINOOC [HRWC], bare-headed bust left / HRWKIANOI ADRIANOI, nude male figure standing left, holding purse(?) in left hand; ANTI NON(?) across field. Cf. Blum pg. 49, 1 (tooled); RG pg. 318, 37 (same dies); BMC Pontus -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -. VF, brown surfaces, tooled and smoothed. ($1000)

From the David A. Dowdy Collection. Ex Giessener Münzhandlung 32 (12-13 November 1985), lot 350 (where unidentified).

Both known specimens of this coin, the present example and the one in Paris, have been so tooled as to make the original reverse type nearly unidentifiable. The figure on this coin shows the nude youth holding what appears to be a pileus (purse), while the Paris specimen, ostensibly from the same dies, shows him carrying a spear. In addition, the Paris piece has no trace of the field legend. Both types may be the creation of the restorer. However, if this legend does refer to Antinoüs, it is probably another case of the young companion of the emperor being assimilated to earlier heros. The legend of the founding of Cius revolves around the fate of two young companions of Hercules who accompanied him on his journey to Colchis: first Hylas, who was carried off by nymphs while seeking water in the area, and Cius, who on the return trip decided to remain and found a settlement at the site. Without the evidence of an undisturbed example, the question must remain undecided.

See lot 715 for a note on the life and coinage of Antinoüs.