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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Al Kowsky, post: 7984754, member: 97383&quot;][ATTACH=full]1385494[/ATTACH] </p><p><b>PHOENICIA, Ace-Ptolemais, Caracalla, AD 198-217 (struck AD 215-217). Obverse: Laureate bust facing right. Reverse: Eagle standing facing front, head &amp; tail facing right, holding wreath in beak; caps of the Dioscuri between eagle&#039;s legs. Billon Tetradrachm: 14.33 gm, 26 mm, 11 h. Prieur 1225. <i>Ex CNG 118, lot 753, &quot;Father &amp; Son Collection&quot;, September 13/14, 2021. Ex Heritage Auction 3038, lot 33154, January 15, 2015, sold by Heritage encapsulated by NGC. </i></b></p><p><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p><b><i>[ATTACH=full]1385504[/ATTACH] </i></b></p><p><b><i>[ATTACH=full]1385505[/ATTACH] </i></b></p><p><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p>Ptolemais is also known as <i>Akko, Akre, Ake, </i>&amp; during the Middle Ages as <i>Acre. </i>The name was changed to <i>Antiochia Ptolemais</i> after Alexander the Great conquered the city, then to <i>Ptolemais </i>after Ptolemy I Soter gained control of the area. Under emperor Claudius it became a colony in southern Roman Phoenicia, &amp; the name was changed to <i>Colonia Claudia Felix Ptolemais Garmanica Stabilis. </i>The variety of names has led to some confusion when trying to research coins from this area <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie5" alt=":confused:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. For the sake of simplicity I&#039;ll refer to the city as <b>Ptolemais.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1385512[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Map showing the location of Ptolemais.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p>Ptolemais was an important port city used by the Romans to crush the 1st &amp; 2nd Jewish revolts, &amp; was used to settle military veterans &amp; their families. This coin type was struck at the Ptolemais mint to pay legionnaires for Caracalla&#039;s proposed war against the Persians, &amp; nearly all the other mints in the Levant struck coinage with the image of Caracalla for the same reason. Most of the coins struck at the Ptolemais mint are by no means scarce, but they are less common than the tetradrachms struck at the northern mints. High grade, well struck coins that haven&#039;t been over-cleaned can be expensive. </p><p><br /></p><p>I spotted this coin a week before CNG Feature Auction 118, &amp; it looked very familiar, a Deja vu moment perhaps <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie11" alt=":rolleyes:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. After locating it in Heritage archives it all came back to me <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. I had left a pre-bid on the coin 6 years ago &amp; was outbid by someone else. That someone else turned out to be the &quot;Father &amp; Son Collection&quot; who won the coin for $881.25. CNG had a typical low estimate on the coin for $500.00, never the less I left a bid of $750.00 on the coin with no hope of winning the coin. A day after the auction I received an email from CNG stating I won the coin <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie59" alt=":joyful:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />! It looks like I&#039;ll be the caretaker of this coin for a while <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. It appears that the Father &amp; Son collection didn&#039;t like slabs &amp; freed the coin from the encapsulation. Why CNG didn&#039;t state the slab info on their description puzzles me <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie12" alt="o_O" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />, if anything it would have enhanced the status of the coin. So be it.... I have no intention of getting the coin slabbed again since I have documentation that it was slabbed before. Presently it resides in a Safe-flip. Both CNG &amp; Heritage misattributed the coin to Prieur 1223, in fact it is Prieur 1225, a less common variety than Prieur 1223. After browsing through CNG archives I located this coin type with a correct attribution, from CNG 241, lot 219, September 29, 2010. Comparing the two coins it appears that there is an obverse die match <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie50" alt=":happy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1385537[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Photos courtesy of CNG, Heritage, &amp; Wikipedia.</p><p><br /></p><p>If any <b>CT </b>members have Phoenician tetradrachms of Caracalla, you&#039;re welcome to post them on this thread <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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