Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 1224. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $1970. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Decapolis. Bostra. Antoninus Pius. 138-161 AD. Æ 31mm (19.31 gm, 12h). Legion III Cyrenaica. Laureate head right / LEG III CYR, bust of Zeus-Ammon right. D. Hollard, “Le monnayage de la Legio III Cyrenaica frappé à Bostra sous Antonin le Pieux,” RN 2004, 8 (D1/R4 ­ this coin); Kindler, Bostra p. 93, a (pl. V, 19); Spijkerman -; SNG ANS -. Good VF, brown patina. Very rare, likely the finest known. ($1500)

The Legio III Cyrenaica was formed in North Africa under Lepidus at the time of the Roman Civil War and spent most of the first century AD in Upper Egypt. Other units were transferred to Arabia for Trajan’s Nabataean campaign in 106 AD. Shortly thereafter, the legion was stationed at Bostra to patrol the Arabian frontier and defend area mines and farms. Several rare coin types are known, undoubtedly struck at Bostra, with legends and types referring to the legion alone, but no mention of the city.