Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 1194. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $375. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Colybrassus. Valerian II. Caesar, AD 256-258. Æ 11 Assaria (29mm, 13.54 g, 1h). POV LIK KOR OVALERIANON KAI CEB, bare-headed, draped, and cuirassed bust right, set on eagle standing facing, head right; IA to right / Zeus Bremetes standing left; eagle at feet. SNG Levante 350 (this coin); SNG France -. VF, black-green patina, small flan pits. Apparently unique.

From the Marc Poncin Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 69 (8 June 2005), lot 1095.

The obverse legend with OVALERIANON in the accusative and the eagle beneath the bust indicate this coin was struck for Valerian II upon his death. The addition of CEB to his titles raises a question, since, based on the evidence of his issues from Rome, he had never been elevated to the rank of Augustus. The inclusion of the title is known in Cilicia only for Colybrassus. Perhaps Valerian I was in the area as he made his way east to fight the Persians and either he personally elevated his grandson post mortem to Augustus, a move which the Senate, for whatever reason, never approved, or the city included the title as a hopeful gesture of imperial beneficence.