Perhaps the Finest Known Galba Drachm

Triton XXI, Lot: 22. Estimate $3000. Sold for $2500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Galba. AD 68-69. Æ Drachm (36mm, 27.26 g, 12h). Dated RY 2 (AD 68/69). ΣE[POYI ΓΑ]ΛΒΑ AYTO ΚΑΙΣ ΣΕΒA, laureate head right / Draped bust right of Nike; L B (date) to right. Köln 243; Dattari (Savio) 322; K&G 17.22; RPC I 5346; Emmett 175.2; Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 22 (this coin). VF, reddish brown patina with touches of green, some minor smoothing. Very rare, and perhaps the finest known.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex Triton VI (14 January 2003), lot 582.

Galba continued Nero’s emphasis on the production of billon tetradrachms at the Alexandrian mint. His bronze coinage, while not quite as rare as Nero’s, is known only from his second regnal year at Alexandria. The authors of RPC cite only seven examples for this type.