Mint of Antioch

442, Lot: 491. Estimate $300. Sold for $1755. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Valerian I. AD 253-260. Æ As (24mm, 9.67 g, 1h). Antioch mint. Issue 1 AD 253-255. IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / AEQVTAS AVGG (sic), Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae. MIR 36, 1558c var. (rev. legend); RIC V 297 var. (same). VF, dark brown surfaces, lighter highlights. Rare.

Ex Sternberg XXV (25 November 1991), lot 421.

A die-sinker’s error in the reverse legend.

The mint at Antioch, in Syria, was already in existence prior to the accession of Valerian I and Gallienus, having struck coins for Trebonianus Gallus and Volusian. It was lost to the Persians, then reclaimed, with coin production restarting in late AD 253 or, more probably early 254 (MIR p. 127). MIR issues 1-6 included antoniniani in the names of Valerian I, Gallienus, Salonina, Valerian II and Saloninus, as well as a few very rare Asses for both senior emperors. Antioch was lost to the Romans after Valerian’s disastrous campaigns against the Persians, then regained, and sole reign issues for Gallienus and Salonina formed issues 7-16, commencing in AD 263.