Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 1095. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $325. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Colybrassus. Valerian II. Caesar, 256-258 AD. Æ 11 Assaria (29mm, 13.54 gm, 1h). Struck 258 AD. POV LIK KOP OVALEPIANON KAI CEB, bare-headed, draped, and cuirassed bust right, set on eagle standing facing, head right; IA to right / Zeus Bremetes standing left; eagle at feet. SNG Levante 350 (this coin); SNG France -. VF, black patina with beige overtones. Possibly unique. ($200)

The obverse legend with OVALEPIANON in the accusative and the eagle beneath the bust indicate this coin was struck for Valerian II upon his death. The addition of CEB to his titles raises a question, since, based on the evidence of his issues from Rome, he had never been elevated to the rank of Augustus. Its inclusion is known in Cilicia only for Colybrassus. Perhaps Valerian I was in the area as he made his way east to fight the Persians and either he personally elevated his grandson post mortem to Augustus, a move which the Senate, for whatever reason, never approved, or the city included the title as a hopeful gesture of imperial beneficence.