ROMAN AND BYZANTINE COINS
Phrygia, Aizanis. Augustus, 27 BC - AD 14. Assarion (Bronze, 22mm, 8.36 g 2), Potitus Valerius Messalla, consul suffectus in 29 BC, proconsul of Asia, c. 28-c. 23/20 and legatus pro praetore of Syria, c. 19-18, c. 25 BC. ΠΟΤΙΤ ΜΕΣΣΑΛΛΑΣ Bare head of Potitus Messalla to left; behind head, grain ear (?). Rev. ΕΖΕΑΝΙΤΩΝ Hand holding balance to left; to right, monogram. RPC 3067. SNG von Aulock 3342. Very rare and very clear. Dark olive-green patina. Two ancient cuts on the reverse, otherwise , good fine. From a European private collection. This is one of a very small group of uniformly rare coins that were struck in Imperial times but bore non-Imperial portraits (primarily governors). Potitus Messalla’s head is particularly individual and must have been made by an engraver who actually saw him. For another non-Imperial portrait on a coin of the Augustan period, see below, lot 152.