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

Diameter: AE12 mm

Weight: 2,48 g

Grade: aVF/VF

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

Commentary: thick flan, olive green patina with sndy deposits, full details

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: 059-02-03-42384