Watch List notes:

EGYPT, Alexandria. Lucius Verus. AD 161-169. Æ Drachm (33mm, 22.00 g, 12h). Dated RY 6 (AD 165/166). Λ AYΡΗ[ΛΙΟC OYHPΟC CЄB], laureate bust left, slight drapery / Pylon (entryway) of an Egyptian temple with a wide door or gate with stairs before it; in the center of the pylon above the gate, two canopic jars; a Canopus of Isis on the right, wearing a crown of horns, solar disk, and feathers; and a Canopus of Osiris on the left, wearing an Atef crown; L ς (date) to either side of pylon. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 9344 (this coin – listed under Marcus Aurelius); K&G –; Emmett 2372.6 (R2 – citing Milne 2560); Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 184 (this coin). Fine, dark brown patina with touches of green and red. Extremely rare, with this coin being the only specimen sold at auction since 2000.


From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex Numismatik Lanz 138 (26 November 2007), lot 703; Giovanni Dattari Collection, no. 9344.

A wonderful type that depicts two canopic jars above the gate to an Egyptian temple. Any representation of an Egyptian temple, versus the usually seen Greek or Roman style temple, is extremely rare on an Alexandrian coin (see lot 86). In the Dattari (Savio) plates, this coin is listed under Marcus Aurelius, but Numismatik Lanz, Giovanni Staffieri, and the present cataloguer read the first letter of his name as an Λ, not an M.