129, Lot: 416. Estimate $500. Sold for $1259. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of AXUM (Aksum). Ousanas. Circa 300 AD. AV 17mm (2.14 g, 12h). Crowned bust right, holding spear, flanked by two grain ears; pellet in crescent above / Draped bust right, wearing headcloth and holding fly-whisk, flanked by two grain ears. Munro-Hay Type 21; cf. BMC 26. VF, holed twice, many scratches.

The paired holes are indicative of foreign coins found in India inthis period. The kingdom of Axum, with its port of Adulis on the Red Sea, was a major trading partner between the west and India, and its coins have been found in India, and as far afield as Syria, Yemen and Zanzibar.