Legio X Fretensis

437, Lot: 262. Estimate $150. Sold for $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUDAEA, Sebaste (or Jerusalem?). Legio X Fretensis. Æ (26mm, 12.70 g). Countermarks applied from AD 84/5-132/5. Four countermarks: [LXF in rectangular countermark]; [laureate head right in rectangular countermark]; boar standing right over dolphin, LXF above in rectangular countermark; and galley right in rectangular countermark, all on uncertain bronze, presumably of Domitian from Sebaste. Howgego 733, 117, 291, and 410; Barag Group III. Near EF, dark green surfaces with lighter deposits, slightly tooled. The first two countermarks obliterated by the addition of the later two.

From the Richard Baker Collection, purchased from Schick Coins.

The Legio X Fretensis applied a number of countermarks to circulating bronze coinage. Most appear on issues of Sebaste, where they were likely applied, though find spots suggest the possibility of application in Jerusalem. The marks appear in sequence and seem to have been added on several occasions between 84/5 and the Bar Kochba Revolt of 132-135. The present example bears the full series of countermarks, though the later applications effaced the earlier ones.