Unusual Uniface Medallion

165, Lot: 158. Estimate $100. Sold for $267. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Pergamum. Maximinus I or Maximus, Caesar. Circa AD 235-238. Æ Medallion (43mm, 32.56 g). Aurelius Nilus, magistrate. Uniface / Tyche standing left, holding cornucopiae and sacrificing over altar, female figure (Andromache?) standing before her; pelta (?) between. SNG France 2273 (obv. details also obliterated); BMC Mysia p. 160, 339 (same). Fair, rough green patina, minor edge chips. A similar piece sold in Classical Numismatic Group 67, lot 1104.

The magistrate Nilus is known for other issues in the name of Maximinus I and Maximus, most of which have either partially or wholly effaced obverses. This piece and the similar examples in Paris and London appear to have been intentionally struck uniface. There is no trace of alteration to the obverse, and the shape of the flan suggests it was originally one-sided. Perhaps Nilus ordered the obverse dies held back, until the chaos at the heart of the empire sorted itself out? Another question is raised by the female figure standing alongside Tyche. BMC has (Demeter?), while Paris calls her simply a "female divinity". The identification of the object in the field as a pelta (shield) suggests one possibility. Andromache, the Trojan wife of Hector, was awarded as spoils of war to Neoptolemos, son of Achilles. Their son Pergamos was the eponymous founder of Pergamon, and later her tomb was located at that city. Tyche is offering sacrifice to the mother of the city's founder.