Unpublished Geta as Conqueror

169, Lot: 75. Estimate $150. Sold for $665. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PAPHLAGONIA, Sinope. Geta. As Caesar, AD 198-209. Æ 27mm (15.08 g). Dated CY 252 (AD 207/8). P SEPTI GETAS C, bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust right / CIF SINOP AN N CCLII, Geta on horseback right, holding spear pointed at bound captive seated on ground below. RG -; BMC -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG Stancomb -; SNG Leypold -. VF, brown surfaces, a little rough. Apparently unpublished.

From the J. S. Wagner Collection.

This coin proves that Geta joined his father and elder brother in the rather prolific coinage issues of Sinope’s civic years 252 and 253. The reverse type is something of a mystery. The bound captive is wearing a crested Phrygian style helmet and must represent an eastern foe. Yet Severus’ Persian campaigns had wrapped up around AD 199, and the last coinage issues commemorating the wars appeared around 202-203. There followed several years of relative peace, only broken in 208 by the plans to expand the conquest of Britain. There seems to be no event that can be tied to this militant type.