Hello and a happy new year to you all.
I would like to know if this coin is recorded in the British Museum
Catalogue volume 26 (
Phoenicia).
I bought it in a lot of others last year from a well known coin
auction house based in
west London,
United Kingdom.
Clearly the
bust is of
Caracalla. Other coins in the lot came from the
Greek Imperial mints of
Syria and
Arabia.
What lettering remains on the
reverse begins with "
SEP...." From what I know when coins from a Greek city start using Latin it was when they became a
Roman colony. Looking through my copy of Sear's
Greek Imperial Coins for
Caracalla I came across an AE example from the
mint of Tyre that
had the
reverse legend "
SEP TVRVS METRO COLONI". I looked on the
Roman Provincial Coinage website for examples from Tyre. Some did have a "Temple shown in three-quarter aspect" on the
reverse but were for later persons, such as
Volusian.
But clearly this is a known
type for Tyre.
There were no matches that I could find on the
Roman Provincial Coinage website for this
Caracalla coin of Tyre,
nor could I find on other online websites.
These are the details of the coin:
Obverse:
IMP M AVR - ANTONINVS, laureate
bust right.
Reverse:
SEP TVRVS METRO COLONI,
hexastyle temple, in three-quarter aspect.
Palm branch and
murex shell in
exergue.
Coin:
AE26,
Mint: Tyre,
Phoenicia, Diametre: 26.2 mm,
Weight: 12.09g
Thank you