Triton XXII, Lot: 573. Estimate $500. Sold for $950. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUCIS and PIERIA, Antioch. Vespasian. AD 69-79. AR Tetradrachm (30mm, 14.78 g, 12h). Dated RY 1 (AD 69). AVTOKPA OVЄCΠACIANOC KAICAP CЄBACTOC, laureate head right / ЄTOVC A (date), eagle standing left on two opposed laurel branches, with wings spread, holding wreath in beak; palm frond to left. Prieur 118; McAlee 341; RPC II 1952. VF. Well-centered on a broad flan. Fine style. Rare.

From the Michel Prieur Collection. Ex Archaeological Center 41 (2 October 2007), lot 144.

There is considerable variation in both the style and fabric of Flavian tetradrachms traditionally assigned to Antioch, and scholars have long suspected that multiple mints were participating in their production. Stylistically, Kraay divided them between four possible mints (Antioch, a mint under the influence of Antioch, Tripolis[?], and Tyre); McAlee between five (Antioch, Tripolis[?], Aradus[?], Caesarea Maritima, and Tyre); and Butcher three (Antioch, Caesarea Maritima, and Alexandria). Moreover, these theories beg further questions: were the coins actually struck at the proposed mints, did mint workers from these cities travel to Antioch, or were the dies produced at these mints and sent to Antioch?