161101.

Sold For $8750

LYDIA, Sardes. Mid-3rd century AD. Æ 41mm Medallion (25.50 g, 12h). Aurelius Rufinus, first archon for the second time. MHTROPOLIC CARDIC • ACIAC • LVDIAC • ELLADOC • A•, veiled and draped bust of Tyche right, wearing mural crown / EPI AVP POV[F]EINOV APX A T(o) B CARDIANWN B NEWKORWN, ZEVC font face=symbol>LVDIOC across inner fields, Zeus Lydius seated left on high throne, holding Nike in right hand and sceptre in left, surrounded by zodiacal wheel border. Simpson 108 = Triton V (15-16 January 2002), lot 1729 = Sternberg XI (20 November 1981), lot 304; BMC -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -; cf. Mionnet IV 788 (no zodiacal wheel). Good VF, red and brown patina with green overtones. Very rare

In Treasures of Ancient Coinage: From the Private Collections of American Numismatic Society Members, Catharine C. Lorber catalogued a coin of Maximinus I Thrax from Anchialus in Thrace with a very similar reverse type to the present coin (see pg. 121, no. 110). Lorber summarized the type as "...a symbolic map of the cosmos. Zeus, chief of the gods, is the central figure... Surrounding this scene is a broad band containing the twelve signs of the zodiac. The entire design reflects the common belief of third-century Romans that their lives were shaped by higher powers. This schema and variations on it were employed by numerous mints for different emperors from the mid-second through the mid-third centuries."