Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 1370. Estimate $15000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $21000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CLEOPATRA and MARK ANTONY. 36-33 BC. AR Tetradrachm (14.88 gm, 12h). Uncertain eastern mint, possibly Antioch. Diademed bust of Cleopatra right / Bare head of Antony right; behind, horse's head right. RPC I 4095; Prieur 28 (three specimens noted). Good VF, toned, some die rust and scuff marks. Extremely rare, possibly the fourth known and the only one in private hands. ($15,000)

These tetradrachms, struck after the separation of Antony and Octavia, herald the political alliance between the triumvir and the Egyptian queen. Lacking any more certain alternative, this issue has been assigned to Antioch. During this time, Antony was continually moving throughout the eastern provinces, as well as against Parthia. Consequently, these coins could have been struck anywhere in order to facilitate an ad hoc payment for his soldiers. R. McAlee, in his forthcoming book on Roman Antioch, points out the letter forms “C” and “W” for "S" and "W", are inconsistent with those on contemporary Antiochene issues. The horse-head control mark may hint at a possible mint further east, connecting it with Antony’s Armenian intevention in 34 BC, or, more attractively, the invasion of Parthia in 36 BC (cf. Shore 92 for Parthian bronze issues with a very similar horse-head design); events commemorated in an elaborate political display in Alexandria later in 34 BC. Such posturings clearly demonstrated Antony’s political ambition to separate the eastern Roman provinces, combine them with the Ptolemaic kingdom, and create a new empire of his own.