Some very impressive prices for a few Roman Alexandrian coins in yesterday's Naville Auction

[DonnaML]

Some examples, with the prices realized (in descending order) and the Naville Numismatics descriptions.

Lot 375

Starting price: 1800 GBP
Price realized: 7500 GBP

Egypt, Alexandria Antoninus Pius, 138-161 Drachm circa 144-145 (year 8), Æ 32.50 mm., 26.84 g.
Laureate head r. Rev. Venus in Taurus: draped bust of Aphrodite, l., wearing stephane; below, bull, head lowered, stamping ground, left; before, star; in exergue, LH. RPC 863. Dattari 2960.

Possibly the finest specimen known if this rare and intriguing issue, lovely brown tone and uncirculated Extremely Fine.

Possibly the finest specimen known.

Lot 374

Starting price: 1800 GBP
Price realized: 4600 GBP

Egypt, Alexandria Antoninus Pius, 138-161 Drachm circa 144-145 (year 8), Æ 35.60 mm., 27.31 g.
ΑVΤ Κ Τ ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤⲰΝƐΙΝΟϹ ϹƐΒ ƐVϹ Laureate head r. Rev. Zodiac, Sun in Leo: radiate-headed and draped bust of Helios, r.; below, lion running, r.; before, star. RPC 858. Dattari 2968.

Lovely bold portait of fine style and superb brown patina, amongst the finest for the issue, Extremely Fine.

Next, it's the Snake Cowboy!

Lot 308

Starting price: 150 GBP
Price realized: 2800 GBP

Egypt, Alexandria Domitian, 81-96 Diobol circa 91-92 (year 11), Æ 23.70 mm., 6.00 g.
Head of Domitian wreathed with corn r. Rev. Serpent on back of horse r.; below, LIA. RPC 2634. Dattari 565.

Possibly the best specimen known for this issue, attractive brown patina and portrait of lovely style, Extremely Fine.

Lot 419

Starting price: 400 GBP
Price realized: 1800 GBP

Egypt, Alexandria Hadrian, 117-138 Dichalcon Tentyrite. Circa 126-127 (year 11), Æ 15.10 mm., 2.13 g.
Laureate bust r., drpery on l. shoulder. Rev. ΤΕΝΤΥΡ Hawk standing r.; in r. field, LIA. RPC 6328. Dattari-Savio -.

Extremely rare and of an exceptional quality. Lovely brown tone and Good Extremely Fine.

I didn't bid on any of them -- no surprise! -- but put in bids on number of others. I lost out on these three, my first choices, on all of which I had placed pre-bids:

After I lost these three, I put in three more bids on less expensive types that came up towards the end, by which time I suspect a lot of bidders were running out of steam. I won all three, two of them for hammer prices of 36 and 20 GBP, respectively -- the lowest hammer prices for which I've ever won coins at an auction, outside of Ebay! I'll post them after they arrive.

Edited June 25 by DonnaML

[JayAg47]

I bet Romans who happened to come across Alexandrian coins (despite the closed economy) were just as amused as we are for its weird imagery. As always my favourite is the man-headed snake riding a horse, although mine's a humble example that cost me 1% of the hammer price that you posted. 

 

Edited June 25 by JayAg47

[Qcumbor]

Wow !

The one I prefer by a mile is the Domitian/snake cow boy diobol, it's stunning, with a fantastic portrait and incredible reverse !

Thanks for showing them

Q

[CPK]

13 minutes ago, Qcumbor said:

Wow !

The one I prefer by a mile is the Domitian/snake cow boy diobol, it's stunning, with a fantastic portrait and incredible reverse !

Thanks for showing them

Q

Yes, my thoughts exactly! That is one beautiful coin!

[David Atherton]

Unfortunately, I was the underbidder on lot 314. I got in slight bidding war with another bidder, but gave up the chase when I realised it could go crazy high. I hope the winner enjoys it.

[Al Kowsky]

8 hours ago, DonnaML said:

Some examples, with the prices realized (in descending order) and the Naville Numismatics descriptions.

Lot 375

Starting price: 1800 GBP
Price realized: 7500 GBP

Egypt, Alexandria Antoninus Pius, 138-161 Drachm circa 144-145 (year 8), Æ 32.50 mm., 26.84 g.
Laureate head r. Rev. Venus in Taurus: draped bust of Aphrodite, l., wearing stephane; below, bull, head lowered, stamping ground, left; before, star; in exergue, LH. RPC 863. Dattari 2960.

Possibly the finest specimen known if this rare and intriguing issue, lovely brown tone and uncirculated Extremely Fine.

Possibly the finest specimen known.

Lot 374

Starting price: 1800 GBP
Price realized: 4600 GBP

Egypt, Alexandria Antoninus Pius, 138-161 Drachm circa 144-145 (year 8), Æ 35.60 mm., 27.31 g.
ΑVΤ Κ Τ ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤⲰΝƐΙΝΟϹ ϹƐΒ ƐVϹ Laureate head r. Rev. Zodiac, Sun in Leo: radiate-headed and draped bust of Helios, r.; below, lion running, r.; before, star. RPC 858. Dattari 2968.

Lovely bold portait of fine style and superb brown patina, amongst the finest for the issue, Extremely Fine.

Next, it's the Snake Cowboy!

Lot 308

Starting price: 150 GBP
Price realized: 2800 GBP

Egypt, Alexandria Domitian, 81-96 Diobol circa 91-92 (year 11), Æ 23.70 mm., 6.00 g.
Head of Domitian wreathed with corn r. Rev. Serpent on back of horse r.; below, LIA. RPC 2634. Dattari 565.

Possibly the best specimen known for this issue, attractive brown patina and portrait of lovely style, Extremely Fine.

Lot 419

Starting price: 400 GBP
Price realized: 1800 GBP

Egypt, Alexandria Hadrian, 117-138 Dichalcon Tentyrite. Circa 126-127 (year 11), Æ 15.10 mm., 2.13 g.
Laureate bust r., drpery on l. shoulder. Rev. ΤΕΝΤΥΡ Hawk standing r.; in r. field, LIA. RPC 6328. Dattari-Savio -.

Extremely rare and of an exceptional quality. Lovely brown tone and Good Extremely Fine.

I didn't bid on any of them -- no surprise! -- but put in bids on number of others. I lost out on these three, my first choices, on all of which I had placed pre-bids:

After I lost these three, I put in three more bids on less expensive types that came up towards the end, by which time I suspect a lot of bidders were running out of steam. I won all three, two of them for hammer prices of 36 and 20 GBP, respectively -- the lowest hammer prices for which I've ever won coins at an auction, outside of Ebay! I'll post them after they arrive.

The prices realized for lots 374 & 375 don't surprise me 😉. The big bronzes that are well struck, in near mint state, that haven't been over-cleaned or smoothed will always do well at auction 🤩.

[John Conduitt]

How much are people here swayed by the "Possibly the finest specimen known" tag? It seems to work very well as a marketing tool and I can understand why anyone with enough money would want the finest known. But I would also be wondering how hard the auction house looked for another, or how subjective 'finest' is.

Edited June 25 by John Conduitt

[CPK]

40 minutes ago, John Conduitt said:

How much are people here swayed by the "Possibly the finest specimen known" tag? It seems to work very well as a marketing tool and I can understand why anyone with enough money would want the finest known. But I would also be wondering how hard the auction house looked for another, or how subjective 'finest' is.

For me it's a little bit like rarity ratings - of course it's a good selling point - who wouldn't want the finest known? but I don't take the auction house's word for it. I like to check for myself in references, archives, etc.

Edited June 25 by CPK

[Qcumbor]

2 hours ago, John Conduitt said:

How much are people here swayed by the "Possibly the finest specimen known" tag? It seems to work very well as a marketing tool and I can understand why anyone with enough money would want the finest known. But I would also be wondering how hard the auction house looked for another, or how subjective 'finest' is.

The best way to make sure yours is the best known is to buy only unicums 😄
BTW it might also be the worst known !!

Q

Edited June 25 by Qcumbor

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

I'm sure you had some nice pick-ups. Will look forward to seeing them. 

 

My fave is the Taurus example. As I have mentioned before I have bid on these zodiac types a few times when they come up for auction and have never won.

As a consolation, I am about to pull the trigger in the coming couple of days on a sestertius of a somewhat rare figure, a one-time Caesar. But I don't want to leak any info about it for obvious reasons.

 

Edited June 25 by Ancient Coin Hunter

[thejewk]

There were some real stunners, made me want to start looking seriously at Alexandrian coinage. 

That sale was actually my first real non-ebay auction experience, and I won what I was after, although at the higher end of my budget. 

[DonnaML]

4 hours ago, Al Kowsky said:

The prices realized for lots 374 & 375 don't surprise me 😉. The big bronzes that are well struck, in near mint state, that haven't been over-cleaned or smoothed will always do well at auction 🤩.

By contrast to Lot 374, here's my own extremely modest example of the Antoninus Pius Zodiac Series drachm with Leo and Helios, purchased for well under 10% of the price of the Naville specimen. And yet I'm perfectly happy with it:

Antoninus Pius AE Drachm, Zodiac Series, Sun in Leo (day house), Year 8 (144-145 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, ΑYΤ Κ Τ ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤѠΝƐΙΝΟϹ ϹƐ-Β ƐYϹ (legend begins at 8:00) / Rev. Lion springing right; above to left, bust of Helios, radiate and draped; above to right, 8-pointed star; L H (Year 8 ) below.  RPC IV.4 Online 13547 (temp.) (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/13547 ); Emmett 1530.8 (ill. p. 74A); BMC 16 Alexandria 1084 at p. 127 (ill. Pl. 12); Milne 1813-1815 at p. 44 (No. 1815 has same obv. legend break as this coin, i.e., ϹƐ-Β ƐVϹ); Dattari (Savio) 2968; K&G 35.278 (ill. p. 173); Köln (Geissen) 1495.  Ex Dr. Busso Peus Nachfolger, Auction 428, Lot 555, 28 Apr. 2021; ex Heidelberger Münzhandlung Herbert Grün e.K., Auction 79, Lot 1284, 10 Nov. 2020.* 33 mm., 20.95 g.

*See Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XXI Catalog (“The Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection of the Coins of Roman Alexandria,” Jan 9. 2018), Lot 124, p. 68 (available at https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=349280) , quoted in footnote to previous coin, explaining Great Sothic Cycle 

I have seen no explanation of why it took five years to issue this series after the beginning of the new Cycle in the third year of the reign of Antoninus Pius. It should be noted that the Zodiac series is based not on the ancient Egyptian “Decan” system of 36 star groups (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decan), but on the 12 Greek (originally Babylonian) signs, and depicts associated Greco-Roman deities -- although the additional “Zodiac Wheel” coin (see Triton XXI catalog, Lot 124) depicts Isis and Serapis at the center of the reverse. 

In total, according to Emmett, there are 16 basic drachm types in the Antoninus Pius Zodiac Series, all issued in Year 8 of his reign, listed and depicted in Emmett at p. 74A: Ares (Mars) in Aries [ram] (Emmett 1461.8), Aphrodite (Venus) in Taurus [bull] (E. 1450.8), Hermes (Mercury) in Gemini [with the twins represented by Herakles and Apollo rather than the Dioscuri] (E.1576.8), Selene (Moon) in Cancer [crab] (E.1681.8), Helios (Sun) in Leo [this coin] (E.1530.8), Hermes (Mercury) in Virgo [Demeter] (E.1575.8), Aphrodite (Venus) in Libra [female holding scales] (E.1452.8), Ares (Mars) in Scorpio [scorpion] (E.1460.8), Zeus (Jupiter) in Sagittarius [centaur as archer] (E.1693.8), Kronos (Saturn) in Capricorn [capricorn] (E.1598.8), Kronos (Saturn) in Aquarius [youth swimming with amphora] (E.1451.8), and Zeus (Jupiter) in Pisces [two fish] (E.1692.8). There are four additional coins variously depicting Helios and Selene, Serapis and Isis, or Serapis by himself in the center, surrounded by either one circular band showing the Zodiac, or two bands showing respectively the Zodiac and the five planets together with the Sun and Moon (Emmett 1705-1708). 

[DonnaML]

4 hours ago, David Atherton said:

Unfortunately, I was the underbidder on lot 314. I got in slight bidding war with another bidder, but gave up the chase when I realised it could go crazy high. I hope the winner enjoys it.

Do you mean Lot 308, the "snake cowboy"? Lot 314 was this one: https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=8168&lot=314 . It hammered for 320 GBP.

[DonnaML]

2 hours ago, Ancient Coin Hunter said:

I'm sure you had some nice pick-ups. Will look forward to seeing them. 

 

My fave is the Taurus example. As I have mentioned before I have bid on these zodiac types a few times when they come up for auction and have never won.

As a consolation, I am about to pull the trigger in the coming couple of days on a sestertius of a somewhat rare figure, a one-time Caesar. But I don't want to leak any info about it for obvious reasons.

 

Thanks! I assure you they're nothing special, but even the 36 and 20 GBP coins are perfectly decent specimens of types that have typically sold for several times that amount.  And the third coin is actually quite a scarce type, with a long-standing dispute over the identity of the figure on the reverse, issued by an emperor for whom none of the Roman Alexandrian issues is seen very often.

[David Atherton]

5 hours ago, DonnaML said:

Do you mean Lot 308, the "snake cowboy"? Lot 314 was this one: https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=8168&lot=314 . It hammered for 320 GBP.

Lot 314, the unlisted Domitian in quadriga. 

[Michael Stolt]

CNG sold this not too long ago in their shop. In much better shape than the one that Naville offered, just to show what a huge price increase quality can do for coins like these.

 

[DonnaML]

1 hour ago, Michael Stolt said:

CNG sold this not too long ago in their shop. In much better shape than the one that Naville offered, just to show what a huge price increase quality can do for coins like these.

 

Wow. I'm not sure this one is "much better" enough than the Naville example to deserve a price 6 times higher than what I thought was a pretty high price in the first place!

[Michael Stolt]

26 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

Wow. I'm not sure this one is "much better" enough than the Naville example to deserve a price 6 times higher than what I thought was a pretty high price in the first place!

Looking at the coins side by side makes the difference a bit more clear. The CNG specimen has sharper detail, less wear, better centering, and in my opinion a far more attractive patina. This makes an enormous difference for coins like these, where you have very deep pockets bidding. Thankfully the vast majority of Alexandrian coins do not even come up into the four figures, so plenty to collect for everyone.

[DonnaML]

Now that the three much more modest Roman Alexandrian tetradrachms that I bought in the June Naville Numismatics auction -- my only ancient coin purchases since mid-May -- have arrived, I decided for continuity's sake to post the write-ups here rather than starting a separate thread or putting them in the "Post Your Latest Ancient" thread.

As I explained in my original post above, I lost out on the three coins in that auction that I most wanted. Even though one would think that I already had more than enough Roman Alexandrian coins and would have just given up on buying anything, I decided afterwards, on the spur of the moment, to bid on these three, which I hadn't really noticed before, for various reasons (not counting the "frustration leading to wanting to buy something; anything!" impulse)! I bid on the first coin because I previously had no Roman Alexandrian coins of Lucius Verus, and because it's a scarce type with an interesting controversy over the identity of the figure on the reverse (see the discussion in my footnotes); the second coin because I had no Roman Alexandrian coins of Valerian I either, and liked the portrait; and the third because although I do have another Roman Alexandrian Probus, I had nothing from Alexandria (or any other Roman Provincial coin) depicting Elpis on the reverse. I was happy to win all three, especially because the second and third coins hammered for only 36 and 20 GBP, respectively!

1.  Lucius Verus, Billon Tetradrachm, Year 1 (AD 161) [Joint reign with Marcus Aurelius], Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, wearing paladumentum, seen from rear, Λ ΑΥΡΗΛΙΟϹ – ΟΥΗΡΟϹ ϹΕ• / Rev. Helmeted Roma (or Ares)* seated left on cuirass, wearing armor including pteryges [short armored apron; see fn. 1], holding Nike on outstretched right palm, and, in left hand, a vertical spear with its bottom end resting on the cuirass; L – A [Year 1] across lower fields. 25.40 mm., 13.52 g. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Online, Vol. IV.4 2284 (https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4.4/2284) [Roma or Ares] (same obv. legend variant as this coin; RPC IV.4 2282  ends with “ϹΕB”); Emmett 2331.1 (p. 102) [Roma or Ares] [Rarity 3 of 5]**; K & G 39.3 (p. 224) [Ares] [Kampmann, Ursula & Ganschow, Thomas, Die Münzen der römischen Münzstätte Alexandria  (2008)]; Milne 2425 (p. 59) (obv. leg. var. as in RPC IV.4 2282) [Ares]; Dattari 3649 (p. 244; Rev. ill. Vol. 2 Pl. IX) [Ares] [Dattari, Giovanni, Monete imperiali greche, Numi Augg. Alexandrini, Catalogo della collezione (Cairo 1901)]; BMC 16 Alexandria  –– ; Kellner –– ; Förschner ––; Curtis –– ; Sear RCV II –– . 25.40 mm., 13.52 g. Purchased from Naville Numismatics, Ltd., London, UK, Auction 90, 23 Jun 2024, Lot 380.

 

*The earlier authorities seem to have uniformly identified the reverse figure on this scarce type as Ares. The more recent authorities have suggested an ambiguity as to whether the figure was intended to represent Ares or Roma. See the note to RPC IV.4 Online 2282 (the same type as this coin [RPC IV.4 Online 2284] except for the different ending to the obverse legend), stating “The figure is conventionally described as Ares but it is identified as Roma by inscriptions on some issues of AD 161. Ares (or Mars) is not normally shown as seated on Roman Provincial or Imperial coins.” (See https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4.4/2282.) Thus, on at least three of Lucius Verus’s Year 1 Alexandrian tetradrachms, a similar figure appears on the reverse, accompanied by the legend “ΡΩΜΗ” [ROMA] together with the year. See RPC IV.4 Online Nos. 2285-2287. The same is true for at least two of Marcus Aurelius’s own Year 1 Alexandrian tetradrachms; see RPC IV.4 Online Nos. 2263 (Dattari 9179) and 2295 (Dattari 9289).

However, in discussing the Dattari 9179 type of Marcus Aurelius with a similar reverse figure to the one on this type of Lucius Verus, Wendelin Kellner argues in his book (see Kellner Teil 9 Abb. 1 p. 26, ill. p. 114 [Wendelin Kellner, Die Münzstätte Alexandria in Ägypten (2009)]) that the figure should still be identified as Ares despite the presence of the legend “ΡΩΜΗ.” As translated from German, Kellner states:

 “A tetradrachm from the year 1 (Fig. 1, with L-A, from the Basel Coin Dealer auction 6, 940) features a motif that was already used under Nero (see moneytrend.at 2/2003 p.119 Fig.10): A figure seated to the left with a helmet, armor, sword (parazonium) and the inscription Ρω−Μ−Η. At that time, that was Roma, the city goddess of the capital. But now the seated figure is not wearing a chiton, but an armor with a short apron, by which one can recognize Pteryges. She is no longer sitting on a chair, but on armor. Despite the inscription "Rhome", that is no longer Roma, who was depicted in Amazon costume with her right breast exposed [note from Donna: she wasn’t always shown that way, certainly!], but Ares-Mars, the god of war. The ambiguity of the word "Rhome" was used, which can also mean "strength, military power". Such word games were just as popular at the time as images that allowed for multiple interpretations. Mars and Roma belong together - Roma can even be called the daughter of Mars. And Mars guarantees Rome that its military power will be maintained. In 161, his image is easy to understand. Immediately after the death of Antoninus Pius, the Parthians invaded Armenia. They had completely defeated Serverianus, the legate of Cappadocia, and his troops and forced them to throw themselves on his sword. Following this news, the rhetorician Fronto wrote a letter of consolation to his old student Marcus Aurelius, in which he said that the Romans had already experienced many defeats, but in the end the god of war Mars had always meant well for them.”

(For an explanation of “Pteryges,” see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteruges:

“Pteruges (also spelled pteryges; from Ancient Greek πτέρυγες (ptéruges) 'feathers') refers to strip-like defences for the upper parts of limbs attached to armor in the Greco-Roman world. . . . Pteruges formed a defensive skirt of leather or multi-layered fabric (linen) strips or lappets worn depend[ing] from the waists of Roman and Greek cuirasses of warriors and soldiers, defending the hips and thighs. Similar defenses, epaulette-like strips, were worn on the shoulders, protecting the upper arms. Both sets of strips are usually interpreted as belonging to a single garment worn under a cuirass, though in a linen cuirass (linothorax) they may have been integral. The cuirass itself could be variously constructed: of plate-bronze (muscle cuirass), linothorax, scale, lamellar or mail. Pteruges could be arranged as a single row of longer strips or in two or more layers of shorter, overlapping lappets of graduated length.”)

Perhaps, as is sometimes the case given the ancient Romans' propensity for combining the attributes of more than one deity on their coins (particularly during the Roman Republican period, as I’ve commented in the past), it is not entirely necessary to choose between Ares and Roma in identifying the reverse figure on this type. As Kellner himself suggests, the two always shared a number of the same aspects, including “strength and military power.” It is not difficult to imagine someone seeing this reverse in ancient Rome and thinking of both of them. If anyone has any thoughts on the identification of the reverse figure, please share them.

**This type of Lucius Verus -- including both variants of the obverse legend (RPC IV.4 2284 [my coin’s type] and RPC IV.4 2282), as well as RPC IV.4 2283, on which the bust of Lucius Verus is not cuirassed but shows only “traces of drapery, right” -- appears to be even more scarce than the Emmett rarity rating (Rarity 3 on a scale of 1-5, with 5 the most rare) suggests. Thus, RPC IV.4 2284 cites only two specimens of my type, i.e., with the obverse legend ending in “ϹΕ•” rather than “CEB,” something I would consider more of a variant than a difference justifying a separate type. Both specimens cited are in museums (one in Munich and one in Vienna), and I have found no examples whatsoever in the acsearch database that were sold on the market. As for RPC IV.4 2282, only five specimens are cited, four in museums and the fifth the specimen from the Dattari Collection itself (Dattari 3649, ill. Pl IX in the 1901 ed.), sold by Naville Numismatics in its Auction 63, 7 Feb. 2021, Lot 338 (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/120600). The acsearch database does not appear to include Naville Numismatics auctions (although the sale is recorded at https://www.coinarchives.com/a/openlink.php?l=1800919|4144|338|98b0268748312c6bda216d57305e13fc ), and I have found no other specimens of the type listed on acsearch. For RPC IV.4 2283 (the type on which Lucius Verus’s obverse bust does not wear a cuirass), only one specimen is cited, held by the Numismatic Museum in Athens. Thus, for the three types combined, RPC IV.4 cites a total of 8 examples, only one of them (the ex Dattari Collection specimen) sold on the commercial market. Mine would appear to be the second, even ignoring the slight difference in the obverse legend from the Dattari Collection specimen.

As for RPC IV.4 Online 2285-2287 (with  “ΡΩΜΗ” added to the reverse inscription, see fn. 1 above) -- the three types, all from Lucius Verus’s Year 1, differ in whether or not there is a shield at the feet of the reverse figure, and whether the left hand of the reverse figure holds a vertical spear, or a short diagonal scepter or parazonium -- RPC cites a combined total of five specimens, three in museums and two sold at auction, one in 1991 by CNA and the other in 2019 by CNG. So these types are similarly scarce. The same is true of two other Lucius Verus Year 1 types with similar reverses I found, namely RPC IV.4 Online 2307 (obverse bust of Lucius Verus left, reverse figure has shield at feet and holds short diagonal scepter or parazonium; no “ΡΩΜΗ”; three specimens cited: one in museum, one in the Dattari Collection, and one sold by Naville Numismatics in 2021) and RPC IV.4 Online 2308 (same as 2307 except Lucius Verus bust right; six specimens cited: three in museums and three sold at auction, one by Alex Malloy in 1979, one by Roma in 2018, and one by Savoca in 2019).  The two similar Marcus Aurelius Year 1 types cited in fn. 1 above are also scarce. See RPC IV.4 2263 (five specimens cited, four in museums and one sold in CNG Triton XIX in 2016) and RPC IV.4 2295 (two specimens cited, one in a museum and the other in a private Belgian collection).

 TLDR: Scarce type!  

 

2.  Valerian I, Billon Tetradrachm, AD 256-257 (Year 4), Alexandria, Egypt mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, wearing aegis, seen from front, Α Κ Π ΛΙ ΟΥΑΛ - ΕΡΙΑΝΟϹ ΕΥ ΕΥϹ / Rev. Homonoia [equivalent to Concordia] standing left, wearing long chiton and peplos, raising right hand and holding double cornucopiae in left; L - Δ [Delta] [Year 4] across fields, with Δ placed higher than L. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] X Online — (unassigned; ID 75341) [see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/75341 ]; Emmett 3711.4 (p. 187); BMC 16 Alexandria 2128 (p. 279); Milne 3923 (p. 94); K & G 88.25 (ill. p. 313) [Kampmann, Ursula & Ganschow, Thomas, Die Münzen der römischen Münzstätte Alexandria  (2008)]; Curtis 1513 (p. 109) [James W. Curtis, The Tetradrachms of Roman Egypt (1969)]; Förschner 1033-1034 [both same type] (ill. p. 327) [Förschner, Gisela, Die Münzen der Römischen Kaiser in Alexandrien, Historisches Museum Frankfurt (1987)]; Kellner Teil 14 Abb. 25 (p. 44, ill. p. 131) (specimen with error omitting “o” in Valerianos) [Wendelin Kellner, Die Münzstätte Alexandria in Ägypten (2009)]; Dattari 5158 (p. 347) [Dattari, Giovanni, Monete imperiali greche, Numi Augg. Alexandrini, Catalogo della collezione (Cairo 1901)]. 22.00 mm., 10.36 g. Purchased from Naville Numismatics, Ltd., London, UK, Auction 90, 23 Jun 2024, Lot 399; from the "Tenby Collection" (otherwise unidentified).

 

 

3.  Probus, Billon Tetradrachm, AD 276-277 AD (Year 2), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, Α Κ Μ ΑΥΡ ΠΡ - ΟΒΟϹ ϹΕΒ / Rev. Elpis [equivalent to Spes] advancing left, wearing long chiton and peplos, holding up flower in right hand with left hand raising skirt of chiton behind, B above L in left field [Year 2]. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] X Online — (unassigned; ID 75775) [see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/75775]; Emmett 3987.2 (p. 204); Milne 4531 (p. 108) [specimen with same obv. legend break; Milne obv. legend type A.4] [Milne, J.G., Catalogue of Alexandrian Coins (Oxford 1933, reprint with supplement by Colin M. Kraay, 1971)]; BMC 16 Alexandria 2417 (p. 313) [Poole, Reginald Stuart, A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 16, Alexandria (London, 1892)] [& 1991 Supp. 3433 (p. 107)]; K & G 112.8 (ill. p. 338) [Kampmann, Ursula & Ganschow, Thomas, Die Münzen der römischen Münzstätte Alexandria  (2008)]; Kellner Teil 19 Abb. 12 (p. 56, ill. p. 147) [specimen with different placement of year on rev.]  [Wendelin Kellner, Die Münzstätte Alexandria in Ägypten (2009)]; Förschner 1202 (ill. p. 377) [Förschner, Gisela, Die Münzen der Römischen Kaiser in Alexandrien, Historisches Museum Frankfurt (1987)]; Curtis 1881 (p. 135) [James W. Curtis, The Tetradrachms of Roman Egypt (1969)]; Dattari 5533 (p. 368) [Dattari, Giovanni, Monete imperiali greche, Numi Augg. Alexandrini, Catalogo della collezione (Cairo 1901)]. 19.40 mm., 8.90 g. Purchased from Naville Numismatics, Ltd., London, UK, Auction 90, 23 Jun 2024, Lot 409; from the “Tenby Collection” (with old coin ticket).

The old ticket -- which certainly doesn't look very old! -- that came with this coin. If anyone recognizes the small design on the ticket, please let me know.

 

Edited July 7 by DonnaML

[Edessa]

"As I explained in my original post above, I lost out on the three coins in that auction that I most wanted. Even though one would think that I already had more than enough Roman Alexandrian coins..."

God forbid.

[Valentinian]

I have a Probus much like the one shown by @DonnaML


20 mm. Bought in Bozeman, Montana(!) in 1996.
Elpis (Spes) walking left, holding flower.
Sear III 12121v (year 2, not Sear's year 1).