299, Lot: 84. Estimate $100. Sold for $65. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BOSPOROS. Polemo I. Circa 14/3-10/9 BC. Æ 4 Units (19mm, 5.89 g, 12h). Posthumous issue, circa 8/7 BC-AD 7/8(?). Laureate head of Apollo right within laurel wreath / Tripod with cover; monogram of Polemo to left, myrtle branch and Δ (mark of value) to right. MacDonald 247; Anokhin 286. Fine, tan surfaces, roughness. Rare.

Ex Münzen und Medaillen Deutschland 22 (24 May 2007), lot 1364 (part of).

The years following the death of Asander until the accession of Aspourgos were a politically unstable time to judge from the scant historical record. Macdonald notes (p. 54): “Bronze coins bearing the monogram of Polemo exist in so many varieties that it is difficult to imagine all were issued during Polemo’s short period of direct rule in the Bosporus, circa 14-8 BC. Bronze coins with Polemo I’s monogram may have continued to have been issued even after his death, possibly as late as AD 9/10, either by Dynamis or Roman officials active in the western part of the kingdom.”