Ex Drewery Collection
Published in RPC

436, Lot: 335. Estimate $300. Sold for $340. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Tarsus. Hadrian. AD 117-138. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 8.98 g, 12h). AYT KAI ΘE TPA ΠAP YI ΘE NEP YI TPAI AΔPIANOC CE, laureate bust right, slight drapery / TAPCEΩN MHTPOΠOΛEΩC, lion to left, attacking bull; c/m: AMK around laureate head of Caracalla within oval incuse. Prieur 764 and 780; SNG BN 1400; SNG Levante 997 var. (bust type); RPC III 3263.13 (this coin); for c/m: Howgego 843. VF, toned.

From the Michel Prieur Collection. Ex Garth Drewery Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 69, 8 June 2005), lot 1139.

The letters in the countermark pronounce Tarsus to be the “first” (A = Greek numeral 1), “greatest” (M = μεγίστης), and “best” (K = καλλίστης). These title were conferred on Tarsus during the reign of Caracalla.