Rare Hermopolite Nome Drachm

172, Lot: 139. Estimate $100. Sold for $465. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Hermopolite Nome. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (34mm, 29.36 g). Nome type, struck at Alexandria. Dated RY 8 (AD 144/5). Laureate head right / Hermes-Thoth standing left, holding ibis and caduceus, baboon with lunar disk on head at his feet; date across fields. Köln -; Milne -; Dattari 6272; BMC -; Emmett 1830. Near VF, brown patina with green highlights. Rare. Two varieties in Dattari appear to be the only published specimens of this type.

From The John A. Seeger Collection.

The nomes were the 42 traditional administrative districts of ancient Egypt. Periodic coin issues in their name were struck at Alexandria (proved by die links) under Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, with distinctive types usually related to the local cults. The nomes coinage appears to be genuinely rare, and not struck in sufficient quantities to be a circulating coinage. The reasons for their striking may never be clear, but the issues of RY 8 of Antoninus Pius are probably related to the celebration of the Great Sothic Cycle.