Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 298. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLANDS off CARIA. Rhodos, Rhodes. Circa 230-205 BC. Æ Tetrachalkon (4.90 g, 12h). Laureate head of Zeus right / Rose, bud to right; TE to left. Ashton 234; Ashton, Bronze 41 (A19/P38); SNG Keckman -; SNG Copenhagen 795. Good VF, dark green patina. Choice for issue. ($500)

Ashton links this and several related coinage issues to the period immediately after the great earthquake that struck Rhodes circa 229-226 BC. The city and port were devastated, and the great bronze Colossus beside the harbor was demolished. Greek states all over the eastern Mediterranean shipped in relief supplies, with Ptolemy III of Egypt being particularly generous. The Zeus head may reflect an Egyptian connection - the Rhodians honoring their benefactors.