Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 632. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Roman Provincial] PONTUS, Amisus. Caracalla. 198-217 AD. Æ 33mm (18.88 g, 7h). Homonoia with Nicaea. Dated CY 241 (209/10 AD). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust left, holding spear and shield decorated with aegis; c/m: capricorn right within incuse oval / Athena of Nicaea standing vis-à-vis Demeter of Amisus; OMO between, date in exergue. For coin: Franke & Nollé -; Malloy 163 var. (bust type); SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -; for c/m: Howgego 299. VF, dark olive and brown patina. ($300)

This countermark was occasionally used by the mint at Amisus, and is thought to honor the memory of Augustus, as he freed the city from its tyrant Straton.