Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3051 8-9 January 2017
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BOSPORAN KINGDOM. Gepaepyris (AD 37-39), with Caligula or Germanicus. AV stater (21mm, 7.87 gm, 11h). NGC XF 5/5 - 3/5. Dated Bosporan year 335 (AD 38/9). No legend, bare head of Julio-Claudian (Caligula or Germanicus?) right / Bare youthful male head (Mithradates, son of Gepaepyris?) right, monogram behind, date ЄΛΤ below. Macdonald 305. Extremely rare! Struck on a broad flan, with two superior portraits.
Gepaepyris was a Bosporan queen of Persian, Greek and Roman descent who counted among her ancestors the Roman triumvir Mark Antony. She married the Bosporan King Aspurgus (8 BC - AD 38) and, after his death, ruled jointly with her son Mithradates I of Pontus until AD 45. The date of this gold stater places it squarely within this joint reign; however, the identity of the portraits is something of a mystery. It was traditional for the Bosporan Kingdom to place the portrait of the reigning Roman emperor on the obverse; this would be Gaius "Caligula" in AD 38-39, but the obverse portrait perhaps more closely resembles that of his father, Germanicus. The reverse may represent young Mithradates or an idealized head of the previous king, Aspurgus.
Estimate: 5000-7000 USD
BOSPORAN KINGDOM. Gepaepyris (AD 37-39), with Caligula or Germanicus. AV stater (21mm, 7.87 gm, 11h). NGC XF 5/5 - 3/5. Dated Bosporan year 335 (AD 38/9). No legend, bare head of Julio-Claudian (Caligula or Germanicus?) right / Bare youthful male head (Mithradates, son of Gepaepyris?) right, monogram behind, date ЄΛΤ below. Macdonald 305. Extremely rare! Struck on a broad flan, with two superior portraits.
Gepaepyris was a Bosporan queen of Persian, Greek and Roman descent who counted among her ancestors the Roman triumvir Mark Antony. She married the Bosporan King Aspurgus (8 BC - AD 38) and, after his death, ruled jointly with her son Mithradates I of Pontus until AD 45. The date of this gold stater places it squarely within this joint reign; however, the identity of the portraits is something of a mystery. It was traditional for the Bosporan Kingdom to place the portrait of the reigning Roman emperor on the obverse; this would be Gaius "Caligula" in AD 38-39, but the obverse portrait perhaps more closely resembles that of his father, Germanicus. The reverse may represent young Mithradates or an idealized head of the previous king, Aspurgus.
Estimate: 5000-7000 USD