451, Lot: 241. Estimate $100. Sold for $420. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MOESIA INFERIOR, Nicopolis ad Istrum. After Elagabalus. AD 218-222. Æ 4 Assaria (28mm, 11.15 g, 12h). Laureate head right; c/m: ∆ / Tyche standing facing, head left, holding rudder and [cornucopia]; c/m: NIKO. For countermarks: Howgego 553 and 782. Dark green to black patina with traces of red, light smoothing. Fine. Countermarks: VF. Undertype is a coin of Caracalla from Serdica.

From entry for Howgego 553: “One of a group of countermarks giving the name of a city and a mark of denomination by which cities validated worn coins. The comparative evidence from other cities makes it likely that the countermarks were official and not private graffiti.”