Maximian BI Tetradrachm of Alexandria, Egypt.

IMP CAES M IVL PHILIPPVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right, seen from rear / COL IVL AVG FEL HEL, Fortuna standing facing, holding rudder and cornucopia, flanked by male figures each holding torch in upraised hand; all within billowing canopy held by two female figures on pedestal. RPC VIII Online Unassigned ID 6484; Sawaya series 43, 448-87. 13.88gr, 29mm, 6h.

Near Very Fine.

Private collection, acquired 1980–1985.

Struck AD 10-14. Head of Agrippa to left, wearing rostral crown combined with laureate crown, back to back with laureate head of Augustus to right; IMP above, DIVI • F below, P P across fields / Chained crocodile to right, palm frond upwards in centre, wreath to left of palm tip with long ties trailing to right; COL NEM across fields; two palm fronds below. RIC I 160; RPC I 525. 13.28gr, 26mm, 11h.

Near Extremely Fine. Dark green patina with earthen highlights.

Property of a North London, UK, gentleman.

This artistically fascinating and typologically unique coin refers directly to the victory of Octavian (as was) and Agrippa at Actium over the forces of Cleopatra VII and Marc Antony, and to the settlement of veterans in Nemausus. The crocodile, collared around the neck and chained to a palm on the reverse of this coin is a clear reference to the subjugation of Egypt, thus obliquely referring also to Antony and Cleopatra; the wreath above with ties fluttering in the breeze is a reminder that the war was both just and necessary, with the victory having brought about the deliverance and salvation of the Roman people and the state. It is noteworthy also that the portraits of Agrippa and Augustus on the obverse are presented on the same level and back to back, at once recalling the ancient Janiform types once so prevalent on the Roman coinage, and also presenting princeps and general as inseparable and heroic partners - the one adorned with a wreath of laurel, the other with a rostral wreath in recognition for his naval victories.

Dated CY 565 (AD 253/4). ΑΥΤΟ Κ ϹΟΥΛΠ ΑΝΤധΝΙΝΟϹ ϹЄ, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust to right / [ЄΜΙϹΩΝ] ΚΟΛΩΝ, temple with six columns enclosing Baetyl of El-Gabal, ornamented with facing eagle, between two umbrellas; crescent on pediment; staircase leading to the stone. ЄΞΦ (date) in exergue. RPC IX 1926; Baldus 36; R. Delbrueck, "Uranius of Emesa," NC (1948), Series I, 2; SNG Hunterian 3174; BMC 24. 20.25gr, 30mm, 12h.

Near Very Fine.

From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.

One of the most famous sacred stones was the Baetyl of Emesa, in Syria. This was a large, black conical stone sacred to the god Ilāh ha-Gabal (“God of the Mountain”), known to the Romans as El-Gabal or Elagabalus.