Sale: CNG 73, Lot: 714. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 13 September 2006.  Sold For $2700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LESBOS, Mytilene. Sextus Nicomachus and Flavia Nicomachis. Circa AD 139-161. Æ 24mm (5.36 g, 6h). CEXCTON HPWA, draped bust of Sextus right / FLA NEIKO-MACIC MVTILH, draped bust of Flavia Nichomachis right. BMC 173; SNG München 778 (same obv. die); SNG Copenhagen 407. VF, brown surfaces. Very rare.

Mytilene issued a rare series of bronzes honoring several distinguished local citizens. While another shows Julia Procula (see CNG 72, lot 1161), probably the mother of Flavia Nicomachis, this coin depicts Flavia Nicomachis herself, as well as her father Sextus Nicomachus. An inscription from Mytilene, naming both Procula and Nicomachis, lists them as benefactors of the city. Based on the portrait styles of these individuals, this coin is dated to the reign of Antoninus Pius.