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

Diameter: AE12 mm

Weight: 1,88 g

Grade: VF/VF

Attribution: Lindgren III 154; SNG BM 984

Commentary: rare; dark olive patina, attractive design, well placed on flan, obverse slightly off-center

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: 026-02-04-41652