157, Lot: 68. Estimate $150. Sold for $192. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BOSPORUS. Cotys I, with Nero and Poppaea. AD 45/6-68/9. Æ 12 Unit (21mm, 6.98 g). Struck AD 63. Laureate and draped bust of Nero right / Head of Poppaea left; monogram and IB in fields. Frolova & Ireland Series IV; MacDonald 332; RPC I -; Anokhin 351. VF, green and red patina, some minor smoothing.

Both MacDonald and RPC condemned the Nero and Poppaea issue as a forgery or altered coin, based on one known example. As Frolova & Ireland demonstrate, more examples have been found in the meantime, from at least two pairs of dies. There seems to be no good reason to question their authenticity.