Description: Pontos, uncertain mint, time of Mithradates VI (120 - 63 BC). Head of horse right, star at neck / comet.

Diameter: AE10 mm

Weight: 1,36 g

Grade: VF/VF

Attribution: SNG BM Black Sea 984; HGC 7, 317

Commentary: green patina with some deposits and minor breaks, great detail, well centered

History: This is the first depiction of comet on a coin in pre-Augustan times; traditionally attributed to Pontos, though very similar to Cappadocian coins with horse and stock of grain, where adding of a star would result in the depicted coin; as for the celestial body depicted, it could be the comet of 134 BC, who announced the birth of Mithridates VI or Halley's comet of 87 BC.

Article Number: 059-01-08-42384