I won this handsome Tet from Roma Numismatics E-sale 59, see photos below (last two courtesy of Roma Numismatics). The coin was struck in Antioch, Syria circa AD 205-207, & pictures Caracalla on the obverse at the age of 18 or 19, & on the reverse a bold eagle with a laurel wreath in his beak & animal leg in his talons. The coin is from the late Michel Prieur collection #202, 14.32 gm, 27 mm, 11h. The metal in this Tet is of a higher fineness than the war issues of AD 215-217. Caracalla lives in infamy for having his brother Geta murdered along with thousands of Geta's adherents so he could be sole ruler of Rome.
Terence, That's a nice looking coin with Caracalla sporting full mutton chops, & most likely a few years later than my coin. Many coins from Laodicea ad Mare with portraits of Caracalla are ugly, your coin is the exception . The coin I use as my CT avatar, pictured below, is a Septimius Severus Tet from Laodicea ad Mare, & about the same age as your Tet, but very common compared to yours. Prieur #1140, 27 mm, 12.21 gm.
I believe I found a die match for the obverse die of my coin with the example sold by CNG in their E-Sale 351, Lot 577 . Am I right on this one or just hallucinating? Their example is 27 mm, 11.51 gm, 11h. The reverse dies don't appear to match. See photos below.
Thank you Al Kowsky for your nice comments. When I bought the Caracalla at the NYINC in January I actually saw this other coin and I kind of kicked myself for not buying it instead. This bugged me for some months. Later I got it and am very happy with it. Septimius Severus Ar Tetradrachm Laodicae ad Mare Prieur 1141 This coin 13.55 grms 23 mm
Terence, One word can adequately describe your Prieur 1141 Tet, MAGNIFICENT. Both sides are stunning, but the portrait side is unmatched for excellence ! Your coin appears to be the same example illustrated in Prieur's book on page 133 . Have you ever confirmed this? Your coin along with a handful of others rank as the finest examples of portraiture on the coins of Septimius Severus, from any mint in the Roman empire. The mint at Ladicea ad Mare certainly had very gifted celators working there. I've got an excellent example of Prieur 1141 in my collection too, but your coin is a step above mine, see photos below. I think we may have a die match on the obverse. What do you think?
To Al Kowsky. Yes. Both the Septimius Severus Pr. 1141 and the Caracalla Pr. 1153 are plate coins in the book published by Prieur. Yes it looks like your Severus is an obverse die match to mine. Nice coin.You can see why I was kicking myself for not buying it after I first saw it.
