First, Greatest, Most Beautiful

Sale: CNG 76, Lot: 3133. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 12 September 2007.  Sold For $400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Tarsus. Hadrian. AD 117-138. AR Tetradrachm (9.80 g, 12h). Countermarked under Caracalla, AD 215-217. Laureate bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder / Lion bringing down bull to left; c/m: laureate head of Caracalla right, A-M-K around bottom of bust; all within incuse oval. For coin: Prieur 764; for c/m: Howgego 843; Prieur 780. VF, toned. Rare.

From the John A. Seeger Collection.

The acronym AMK, in the counterstamp, stands for Prwth Megisth Kallisth (First, Greatest, Most Beautiful), epithets granted to the city upon Caracalla's arrival there in AD 215.