I bought this Macrinus tet, and am wondering a few things about it..... hopefully doug or someone else can help me out.... first of all what is it between the eagle's legs on the reverSe? it looks like a phoenix maybe? i dont know..... also the letters on the reverse beneath the eagle's feet.... anyone know what they mean? I really like this coin and just love the style of eagle reverse and portrait. The info from the seller says that it was "Minted at Cyrrhestica Beroea, Syria, rare mint. Sear 2945" and thats all the info I have for now. Here are the photos.... can anyone confirm the mint? or tell me anything about this coin.... it is my first coin of Macrinus, finnally I have bridged the gap in my collection between Caracalla and Elagabalus.
Great coin of a rare emperor. I really like the eagle on the reverse, great details on it. Im curious about the bird on the bottom of it, if it is a phoenix or not & what it means.
Thanks, I am curious as well about what is between the eagle's legs. I also love the style of this eagle, and the palm branch next to him. Also the bust of Macrinus has so much wear it is hard to tell whether it is 'seen from the front' or 'seen from behind' but to me, from what is remaining, it looks like a frontal bust type.
Cataloged as winged animal and used with BE places the coin as from Beroea. Many cities in Syria used this type and each had a small add on to separate their coins from the neighboring towns. http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?search=similar:48661&view_mode=1#3
Interesting, great link, thank you doug. Yes they all seem to say 'winged animal' it looks almost like what I know as a Kachina doll.... But it looks a bit like what I have seen portrayed as a Phoenix on coins of Gallienus I think it was..... so that's why I think it might be that.... I have some different 'Syro Phoenician' tets with the different things between the eagle's legs, like the murex shell for Tyre etc. but I had never seen this 'winged animal' as they call it between the legs of the eagle before on any coins.... is this 'symbol' of the 'winged animal' unique to tets of Macrinus? either way sounds like one of the rarer mints, so that is neat. I will get some better photos when I can. I'm also looking at some nice ones from Emesa of Macrinus, but there is another Antioch Caracalla tet that I like the most of all the ones I am keeping an eye on now.
