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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 3225898, member: 57495&quot;]I bought one of these large provincials of Amasia featuring the Altar of Zeus on the reverse some months back when [USER=42634]@chrsmat71[/USER] posted his <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/huge-provincial.319654/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/huge-provincial.319654/">ex stevex6</a> example, but when I saw this one in a recent auction - with a different variety of altar depiction - I put in an impulse bid and won it at its opening price.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>It probably didn&#039;t have any other takers because the auction pics really accentuated the rough surfaces and made the obverse look especially horrible, but in hand it&#039;s not so bad and the details are really excellent.&nbsp; I especially love the handsome youthful bust of Caracalla and the sacred tree on the reverse with its distinctive entwined trunks clearly shown (not as apparent on some examples).&nbsp; The coin is very dark in hand, more so than in my pics below, which I lit to show the details better.</p><p><br /></p><p>On another note, my Severus Alexander example, issued about 25 years after this Caracalla, is a few millimetres larger and quite a bit heavier (25.69g, 34.7mm vs 17.31g, 32.3mm).&nbsp; Different denomination?&nbsp; No clue here.</p><p><br /></p><p>Do please feel free to pile on with your altar coins!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]840979[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>CARACALLA</b></p><p>AE32. 17.31g, 32.3mm. PONTUS, Amasia, dated CY 208 (AD 206/7). SNG Cop 112; Dalaison 385. O: AV KAI M AVΡ ANTΩNINOC, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. R: AΔΡ CEV ANT AMACEIAC MH NE ΠΡ ΠO, High altar (of Zeus Stratios) surmounted by smaller flaming altar; tree to left, ET CH (date) in exergue.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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