118, Lot: 73. Estimate $150. Sold for $150. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Coele-Syria. Chalkis. Lysanias, tetrarch. 40-36 BC. Æ 19mm (5.17 g). Diademed head of Lysanias right; monogram before / Athena standing left, holding Nike in right hand, shield resting on ground in left; monogram behind. RPC I 4770; SNG Copenhagen 415-416; BMC Galatia pg. 280, 6. VF, glossy brown patina, attractive portrait.

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection.

The authors of RPC note that "one would expect the portrait to be that of Lysanias, but the PTO monogram behind the head suggests that it may in fact be a posthumous portrait of Ptolemy (or Ptolemaios, a high priest and tetrarch of Chalkis, ed.). It seems an odd place, for instance, to put a patronymic. It is surprising that the portrait has a diadem, as neither Ptolemy nor Lysanias had the rank of king."