RPC I, 4751

 

Image of specimen #10

 

Coin type
Volume I
Number 4751
Province Syria
Region Phoenicia
City Ptolemais
Reign Uncertain
Issue Reign of Nero?
Obverse inscription IOVI AVGVS
Edition Iovi Augus(to)
Translation to Jupiter Augustus
Obverse design Victory advancing, right, with palm branch and wreath
Reverse inscription COL COS CLA
Edition col(onia) Co(n?)s(tantia?) Cla(udia)
Translation the Claudian colony Constantia
Reverse design winged caduceus between two cornucopias
Metal copper-based alloy
Average diameter 15 mm
Average weight 2.76 g
Axis 12
Specimens 10 (4 in the core collections)
Note Another piece from Beirut was mentioned by de Saulcy, p. 65–6. The provenances guarantee a southern Syrian or Judaean origin, and disprove the attribution to Olbasa (M. Grant, NC, 1949, pp. 239–40), and Seyrig's tentative ('bien probable') re-attribution to Ptolemais seems very likely. The date of the piece is uncertain; as Seyrig observed it has a first-century look, and a Neronian date is a possibility. The coin is relevant to the question of the titles of the colony (see introduction).
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Specimens of this coin type

Number Number Museum Bibliography
1 1     L: 1908,0110.1701 from the Hamburger coll.
2 2     G III, 736, no. 46
3 3     JSW
4 4     Chiha coll., Beirut = Seyrig, RN 1969, 48
5 5     Seyrig, RN 1969, 47, fig. 9
6 6     P: (Palmyra) 1776
7 7     P: 1973/217
8 8     CGT coll. = Savoca 7th Blue London Auction, 17 Nov. 2019, lot 601
9 9     CNG EA 475, 26 Aug. 2020, lot 492
10 10     ✸ Agora Auctions Numismatic 35, 23 June 2015, lot 172