Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 978. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $3750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

HADRIAN, with Sabina. 117-138 AD. AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm (10.61 g, 6h). Nicomedia mint. Struck after 128 AD. Laureate head of Hadrian right / Draped bust of Sabina right, hair drawn up in elaborate plaiting. RIC II -; cf. Metcalf, Cistophori, type B19, 43a (same obv. die [O 30], different rev. type); BMCRE -; RSC -. VF, toned with areas of purple iridescence. Extremely rare, and an unpublished variety. ($5000)

Only one cistophorus with the busts of Hadrian and Sabina is published (Leo Benz Collection [Lanz 94, 22 November 1999, lot 531 = Lanz 30 [26 November 1984], lot 548 [realized 15,000 DM]) and stylistically belongs to Metcalf's Unattributed Mint (Cistophori, pl. 27, 393-404). Our coin, however, was clearly struck at Nicomedia, based on its obverse die link to Metcalf's type B19, no. 43 (obv. die O30). The presence of Sabina's imperial title dates the coin to after 128 AD, the year in which she was made Augusta.