EGYPT, Alexandria. Nero. AD 54-68. Æ Drachm (36mm, 31.22 g, 12h). Dated RY 14 (AD 67/8). VF.

Triton XXIX
Lot: 532. Estimated: $ 2 000

The Beniak Collection of Alexandrian Coinage, Bronze, Coin-in-Hand Video

Sold For $ 4 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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EGYPT, Alexandria. Nero. AD 54-68. Æ Drachm (36mm, 31.22 g, 12h). Dated RY 14 (AD 67/8). NEPΩ KΛAV KAIΣ ΣEB ΓEP AV, laureate head right; L I∆ (date) below chin / ΖΕΥΣ ΚΑΠΕΤΩΛΙΟΣ, Zeus Capitolias enthroned left, holding long scepter in right hand and thunderbolt in left; at feet left, eagle standing left, head right. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 281; K&G 14.118 corr. (obv. legend); RPC I 5318A.5 = R. Pincock, “Nero’s Large Bronze Coinage For Egypt” in NC 1995, Type II, Example II-6, n. 16 and pl. 48.1 (this coin); Emmett 140.14 (R5). Dark brown surfaces with traces of green, slight roughness, twice holed in antiquity. VF. Very rare.

From the Dr. Thomas E. Beniak Collection, purchased from Nilus Coins. Ex Canadian Collection (Numismatica Ars Classica 114, 6 May 2019), lot 624; Glendining (20 June 1984), lot 95; Marcel Jungfleisch Collection (Part II, Sotheby’s, 9 March 1972), lot 26.

This coin is one of the great rarities of the Alexandrian series, with only four other specimens having been offered for sale (a simlar example being: Staffieri Collection, Triton XXI, 2018, lot 20, which was also holed twice in antiquity). Another heavily worn example resides in the collection of the American Numismatic Society in New York City (mistakenly attributed to regnal year 11).

This particular drachm has been pierced twice, likely serving as a funerary piece on a Romano-Egyptian mummy. Coins and other amulets were woven into the fabric of the mummies to serve as talismans against the spirits that would try to harm them on their way to the afterlife, the coin would pay the toll to Charon, the Greco-Roman tradition of paying the ferryman, which had been absorbed into Egyptian customs. Mummification was still practiced by the Egyptians through the third century AD until Christianity became the dominant religion of the empire.

The final winners of all Triton XXIX lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 13-14 January 2026.

Triton XXIX – Session Two – Lot 302-613 will be held Tuesday afternoon, 13 January 2026 beginning at 2:00 PM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

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