Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 1161. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $1625. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LESBOS, Mytilene. Julia Procula. Circa AD 139-161. Æ (11.12 g, 7h). Apollonius, strategus. Draped bust of Julia Procula right, hair coiled on top of head / Sappho seated right on low stool, playing cithara; APOLLONI(OV) in legend. BMC 165; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Hunterian 1313. Fine, light overall porosity. Rare.

This coin depicting Julia Procula is one of a series honoring noteworthy citizens. Based on the similarity of Procula’s hairstyle with that of Faustina Sr., Wroth dated the coin to the period of the later Antonines. The poet Sappho (circa 650-600 BC) was the region’s most prominent citizen.