Sale: CNG 64, Lot: 732. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 24 September 2003.  Sold For $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Decapolis. Petra. Geta, as Caesar. 198-209 AD. Æ 29mm (15.29 gm). POU CEP GETAC KAI, laureate and draped beardless bust right; countermark: E• / ADRI PETR MHT, distyle temple with Tyche seated left within, holding trophy and stele, stele in pediment(?). Spijkerman -; Rosenberger -; Howgego 806 (for countermark). VF, desert patina. ($300)

This coin differs from the normal type (Spijkerman 53) in having Pu(blius) as Geta's praenomen, a younger beardless bust, and the stele in the temple pediment.

These stelae are a dramatic feature in Petra's landscape, perched on high holy areas around the city. They are not constructed, or erected from a monolithic stone, but are in fact tall freestanding obelisks carved out of the rock of the mountain tops.