Very Rare Victory Reverse

196, Lot: 347. Estimate $300. Sold for $496. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Macrianus. Usurper, AD 260-261. Antoninianus (21mm, 3.75 g, 1h). Samosata mint. 1st emission. Radiate and cuirassed bust right / Victory advancing right, holding wreath and palm. RIC IV 14; MIR 44, 1744b; RSC 15. Good VF, toned, nearly full silvering. Very rare issue.

This reverse type is among the rarest of Macrianus' coinage, and appears only in the first emission from Samosata. The largest quantity of Macrianus' coinage found in a hoard was 611 pieces in a cache found near the Serrania in Spain (see by H.D. Gallwey in "A Hoard of Third-Century Antoniniani from Southern Spain", NC 1962). Of the 611 coins, which spanned all three emissions, only 8 were of this type.