CNG 99, Lot: 488. Estimate $500. Sold for $400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHOENICIA, Ace-Ptolemais. Gallienus. AD 253-268. Æ (25mm, 13.70 g, 1h). Laureate and draped bust right / Aphrodite, nude but covering breasts and groin with hands, standing facing within shrine; at feet to left, griffin seated left; winged caduceus at feet to right. Kadman 253 corr. (griffin described as Eros on dolphin); Sofaer 297 corr. (griffin described as Marsyas). VF, dusty green patina. Rare.

The statue of Aphrodite is from a series of so-called Venus Pudica types, all deriving from Praxiteles’ famous Aphrodite of Cnidus.