329, Lot: 492. Estimate $100. Sold for $150. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ As (26mm, 11.81 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck AD 215. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Aesculapius standing facing, leaning on serpent-entwined staff; to left, Telesphorus standing facing; to right, globe set on ground. RIC IV 554b. VF, black patina.

Caracalla’s health declined precipitously in the final years of his reign. On his way to the Parthian War in AD 214 he visited the great shrine of Aesculapius at Pergamum in the hopes of finding a cure, an occasion marked by the striking of coins depicting the god at Rome and a remarkable series of medallic bronzes at Pergamum.