266, Lot: 246. Estimate $200. Sold for $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LYDIA, Tralles. Augustus, with Caius Caesar. 27 BC-AD 14. Æ (20mm, 5.71 g, 12h). Struck circa 2 BC. KAIΣA-PEΩN, bare head of Augustus right / ΓAIOΣ [KAIΣAP], bare head of Caius right. RPC I 2646 var.; RPC Supp. I -; RPC Supp. II -. Near VF, dark greenish-brown patina. Extremely rare and apparently unrecorded.

RPC 2646 (itself apparently unique) is different in several respects: both obverse and reverse legends run in opposite directions, with the ethnic being completely behind the bust of Augustus, there is no star on the reverse, and the bust of Caius is enclosed within a wreath. The reverse of the current coin is of the same design as that of the obverses of 2649 and 2650, dated to circa 2 BC, and provides a link between RPC 2646, dated very tentatively to circa 10-5 BC, and the supposed later types. All are very likely from the same issue, which is probably no earlier than 2 BC.