Roman Provincial

Lot 3608    SESSION 17 (9.30AM FRIDAY 24TH NOV)    Roman Provincial

Estimate $300
Bid at live.noble.com.au

THESSALY, Magnetes, Gordian III, (238-244), AE diassarion 23mm, (8.47 g), obv. laureate and draped bust of Gordianus to right, border of dots, MAAN upwards on left, [**GORDIAN*[OC] on right, rev. **ARGWMAG* from lower left, to right circular, retrograde and inverted, **[NHTWN*] above, the ship Argo with rowers, to right, border of dots, (S.-. Rogers 379, fig. 196 var. [rev. legend neither retrograde nor inverted]. Fine, rough brown patina with some surface marks, rev. partly flat struck, extremely rare.

Ex Triton XV, 3 January 2012 (lot 441.2), second of the two coins in the lot that realised $800US. Lot includes CNG ticket.
This coin, although the B on its reverse is not visible, is the same denomination as Rogers fig. 196, all bearing the mark of value B (= two Assaria). Perhaps a change in the sizes of coins took place at that time and the two Assaria coins became bigger in size and weight (although the portrait size, the only parameter that regulates the value, remained more or less the same. (CNG footnote for this coin).