Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 1245. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SAMARIA, Caesarea Maritima(?). Titus. As Caesar, 69-79 CE. AR Tetradrachm (14.47 gm, 12h). Dated RY 3 of Vespasian (70/1 CE). Laureate bust right, wearing aegis / ETOYC G IEPOY, eagle standing left on palm branch, wreath in beak; club to left, date in legend. RPC II 1967 (Syria); Kadman, Caesarea, -; Prieur 140 (Antioch); SNG ANS -. VF, areas of encrustation. ($300)

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection.

While the major references continue to locate the mint for this tetradrachm in Syria, its frequent appearance in Judaean hoards may suggest a location further south. Possibilities include Tyre and Jerusalem. One other candidate is Caesarea, since it was the Roman administrative center for Palestine. If such an attribution is correct, this coin would then be part of the great coin production undertaken in the aftermath of the First Jewish War.