Rare Elagabalus Denarius

171, Lot: 370. Estimate $150. Sold for $865. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Elagabalus. AD 218-222. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.33 g, 7h). Antioch mint. Struck AD 218-219. ANTONINV-S PIVS FEL AVG, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / GENIO S-ENATVS, bearded, togate figure standing left, holding branch. RIC 234 (Caracalla) var (not cuirassed); RSC 90c (Caracalla). Good VF, a little porous. Rare.

RSC 90c (note) calls this “Doubtful, or possibly a coin of Elagabalus.” RIC also questions the attribution to Caracalla, and lists it as “Scarce”. BMCRE p. 442 (d) calls it “quite doubtful.” The only reference cited, both in RIC and BMCRE, is “A.S.F.N. 1886, p. 101”. Cf. The Michael Kelley Collection (Spink 18 November 1997), lot 1361 (different dies).