$plurge For The Year!

Recently I sold my Otho denarius I just got to a specialist on them due to some rare die mumbo jumbo for way more then I paid and due to that, I purchased this special Otho Tetradrachm below.

It wasn't cheap, but since I have drifted to Tetradrachms as a collecting area, I figured "why not".

The reason why it's special is in the Bold letting.




Otho (69 A.D.)
Egypt, Alexandria
Billon Tetradrachm
O: AYTOK MAPK OΘΩNOΣ KAIΣ ΣEB, laureate head right, LA (year 1) lower right.
R: EΛEY-ΘEPIA, Eleutheria (Liberty) standing left, wreath in extended right hand, scepter in left hand, leaning with left elbow on column, simpulum (ladle used for tasting and pouring sacrificial libations) left in lower left field.
12.58g
24.4mm
Milne 359; RPC I 5354 (5 spec.); Dattari 327; BMC Alexandria p. 25, 208; Curtis 238; Kampmann 18.6; Emmett 184


This variety with a simpulum on the reverse is much rarer than the same type without this control symbol. RPC reports only 5 specimens with the simpulum and 17 specimens without it. This variety is missing from the important collections in Cologne, Paris, and Milan, and we know of only one example offered at auction in the past two decades (CNG 76, 12 Sep 2007, lot 3152, VF, $430 plus fees).

 

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Wow, that is cool and very bold looking!

Nice score.

I am with you, I would rather have a 12g tetradrachm than a 3g denarius.

John

 

Big ol' congrats on that one, Mat

 

Neato @Mat ! I'm delving more and more into tets of Alexandria and hopefully drachms of the "good" emperors...something about them is just cool. Plus, Otho's hairpiece isn't as obvious on the tets...

 

Great coin Mat, and a very historical one at that. Are going after the other three emperors of that year on Alexandrian Tets?

 

Nice Tet Mat! I agree nice chunky lettering. Super!

 

You can't go wrong with a tat like that!

 

Otho tet, that's pretty darn cool! Neat that it has an obverse year as welll

 

Congrats Mat , nice Otho portrait and the legends are indeed bold, which is in contrast with the Antioch Syria Otho's
All the ones I've seen are weakly struck to begin with, and often faded away after circulation.

 

Nice pickup @Mat That is a great coin.

 

Nice pick-up!!!

 

Nice!

 

An awesome tet Mat. Great addition!

Here's my Otho tet, not as rare as yours though



Otho Billon Tetradrachm of Alexandria . YEAR 1
C. 69 AD
13.44g
25mm
obv. Otho laureate head right, LA before / rev. bust of Alexandria right in elephant skin headdress. RPC 5358. Dattari 324
Grey tone with good metal and detail. SCARCE
Ex John Casey Collection

 

Awesome!!! So great that you could make a bundle on something that you didn't want that much, and put it towards a stunning rarity that is right in your wheelhouse!! Congrats, that's a slam dunk for the year's top 10. (For anyone here.)

 

It is interesting that they used MAPK where we usually expect just M. At Rome, there were few praenomen spelled beyond the standard abbreviation but thyis was not Rome.

 

Very cool find, congrats !

Q

 

Congrats on the new Otho! A fancy splurge but it sure looks worth it!

 

A most enviable addition! I bet it's pretty cool in hand.

 

My Otho:


RI Otho 69 CE BI AR Tet 23mm Egypt Helmeted Roma

 

Nice addition @Mat! I find the portrait really pleasing. The overall strength of the design and lettering are something I would like to see more of in tets in general much less on a tet of Otho. Nice work finding a rare variety this nice!