Lots of Cash for Coin

An anonymous American collector made the final bid of $140,000 to pick up a 2,200-year-old gold octodrachm, the most valuable of 961 ancient coins auctioned recently at the Bel Age hotel in West Hollywood.

Zurich’s Bank Leu dropped out of the international bidding at $135,000 for the one-of-a-kind piece, a Greek coin minted about 200 B.C. with the impression of King Antiochus of Syria. The octodrachm was probably cast to commemorate his succession to the throne of Alexander the Great.

Among the other Greek and Roman rarities sold at the 18th auction held by Numismatic Fine Arts Inc., a Los Angeles brokerage, was a silver coin depicting Seleucus I, one of only five or six known in the world. It went for $130,000.