Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 785. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LYDIA, Sala. Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ 28mm (12.43 g, 6h). Val. Moloxos, archon α´. AV K M AV ANTONЄINOC (sic), laureate bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder / ЄΠI OVAΛ MO ΛOΞ OV APX A CAΛH NΩN •, Hygieia, holding serpent and phiale, standing right, and Asclepius, leaning on serpent-entwined staff, standing left; between, small figure of Telesphorus. LS -; SNG München -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC -; cf. Mionnet Supp. VII, 574. Good VF, dark green and red-brown patina. Very rare.

On this coin the letter “o” in Caracalla’s official name, Antoninus, is a clearly engraved omicron, rather than the omega more regularly encountered. Under a lens, however, the additional line visible suggests that the celator may have attempted to correct his mistake; as it proceeds over the letter and partially into the field, this line, however, may be part of a serendipitous die break.