The Second (and Finest) Known Example
485. Geta, as Caesar, Æ Tetrassarion of Heracleopolis (as Sebastopolis), Pontus. Dated CY 208 = 205/6 AD. CЄΠTIMI ΓЄTA[C KAICAP], bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust right / CЄBACTOΠO HP...ЄT HC, deer standing left, suckling the infant Telephus, son of Hercules. Unpublished in the standard references; Leu Numismatik Web Auction 4, 479 (same dies). 13.05g, 29mm, 4h. Good Very Fine; earthen repatination. Apparently the second (and finest) known example.
750
Sold with export licence issued by The Israel Antiquities Authority.
A Very Rare and Sharp Macrinus Tetradrachm
486. Macrinus AR Tetradrachm of Edessa, Mesopotamia. AD 217-218. AYK M OΠEΛ CE MAKPEINOC, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / ΔHMAP X EΞ YΠATOC, eagle standing facing, head right, holding wreath in beak; shrine between legs. Prieur 852. 12.70g, 28mm, 6h. Good Extremely Fine. Superb style and metal quality. Very Rare.
1,250
Perseus Saves Andromeda
487. Macrinus Æ23 of Deultum, Thrace. AD 217-218. IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AV, radiate and cuirassed bust right / COL FL PAC DEVLT, Perseus standing left, with right foot on rock, holding head of Medusa and harpa in left hand, freeing Andromeda with right; below, sea-monster turned to stone. Draganov 119 (O19/R587); Youroukova 61; Varbanov 2129. 7.73g, 23mm, 7h. Good Very Fine. Very Rare.
750
Ex Classical Numismatic Group E-319, 29 January 2014, lot 197. When Cassiopeia, Queen of Aethiopia, boasted that her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids, this invoked the wrath of Poseidon who sent the sea monster Cetus to attack Aethiopia. Upon consulting the Oracle of Apollo, the queen and king were informed there would be no respite until they sacrificed their daughter Andromeda to the monster. Thus Andromeda was chained to a rock near the ocean for Cetus to devour. Perseus perchance saw Andromeda chained to the rock and learned of her plight; as Cetus emerged from the ocean to devour Andromeda, Perseus killed it thanks to Hades’ helm rending him invisible. This very rare reverse type depicts the immediate aftermath, having used Medusa’s severed head to turn the sea monster to stone, Perseus frees Andromeda from her bonds and helps her down from the rock. The composition follows very closely two mosaics of the same subject found at Pompeii and now displayed in the Archaeological Museum of Naples.
168