Like Tia, I tend to be inordinately fond of many of them, but I just was made to recall my most acute pleasure when I received this
rare one, which not only verifies Pick's judgment (at
AMNG I, 1, 1533) by preserving just enough of OVI to rule out Gallus, in case
obverse die matches weren't enough (but
Mionnet didn't have what we have:
Pick and A. Stein were the first to grasp the importance of Tertullus) but has the most delightful Thracian Rider sort of
equestrian Caracalla. Also, the metal and
patina are lovely. Yes, the
obverse is the same** as the Sauroktonos,
Pick 1518, but the latter was known to
Pick only from one specimen on the market,
im Handel and to
Mionnet probably not at all.
**No, I think probably not. Very like, but probably not the same.
Pick found a poorly preserved one of the Rider at Bucharest, but he'd have liked this one, I am sure.
Pat L.
CLICK
