Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 582. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PAMPHYLIA, Side. Circa 200-190 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.02 gm). Head of Athena right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet; countermarks: bow in bow-case with SAR to right, and facing owl within incuse circle / Nike advancing left, holding wreath; pomegranate above DEI (magistrate) in left field. SNG France 674; SNG von Aulock 4786. Near VF, light porosity, bold and interesting countermarks. ($300)

The SAR counterstamp was applied in Sardes. Other bow and bow-case counterstamps on Alexander-type tetradrachms and Side tetradrachms, with different legends, have been attributed to Pergamum, Ephesus, Adramyttium, Tralles, Laodicea and Apamea. Price has linked these counterstamps to the introduction of the cistophoric coinage circa 180 BC. The application of these counterstamps permitted the circulation of Attic weight coins in the years following the reform. The owl counterstamp appears to be unrecorded.