Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 1301. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $1360. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Annia Faustina, third wife of Elagabalus. Augusta 222 AD. BI Tetradrachm (11.68 gm, 12h). Dated RY 5 of Elagabalus (222 AD). Draped bust right / Nilus reclining left, holding reed and cornucopiae; a Genius rising from the cornucopaie, three others behind Nilus, two others to left, marking a Nilometer; [date in exergue]. Köln 2387; Dattari 4196; Milne 2863; Emmett 3038. VF, brown patina, porous. Rare empress and significent reverse type. ($500)

From the Rudolf Berk Collection.

The Nilometer, a stone obelisk which measured the inundation of the Nile, was a prominent landmark in Egyptian culture. It was vital as a calendar to mark the passing of the seasons and for assessing the fertility of the land, which depended on the annual Nile flood. It occurrs frequently in Egyptian art, surrounded by attendants and the fruits of the fertile river.