145, Lot: 95. Estimate $500. Sold for $330. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLANDS off CARIA, Kos. Nikias. Tyrant, circa 30 BC. Æ 31mm (20.90 g). Charmylos, magistrate. Bare head of Nikias right / Laureate head of Asklepios right; CARMULOS behind. RPC I 2731. Near VF, green patina. Rare.

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group XXVII (29 September 1993), lot 619.

The elusive Nikias apparently seized power in Kos in the late Republican period, perhaps taking advantage of turmoil within the Roman Empire. He is usually dated between about 50 BC and the reign of Augustus, but the only evidence for his date is the style of portrait, which seem's to be strongly influenced by the portraiture of Octavian. His coinage, however, has not yet been fully studied, and even the sequence of his mint magistrates has not yet been established.