From the Gemini IV Auction, Closed January 8, 2008. Lot # 445 - Auction is closed.Estimate: US$15000 / Unsold: Available at opening bid of US$12500 + Buyers Fee Caracalla. Bronze medallion, 40-42 mm Caracalla. (198-217 AD). Bronze medallion, 40-42 mm (36.06 gm). Thrace, Philippopolis, 214 AD. AVT K M AVP CEV— ANTŮNEINOC, bust laureate, draped, cuirassed right, seen from front / KOINON ČPAKŮN—AËEZAN ĐVČIA EN around, ÖIËIĐ in exergue, Apollo, laureate, nude except for cloak hanging from left shoulder, the top half of his bow emerging over his left shoulder, standing right, seen half from behind, holding patera above tripod on ground before him, a snake is entwined around the middle leg of the tripod and lowers its head over the bowl as though to consume the contents. Possibly unpublished. Not in Varbanov, BMC, SNG Copenhagen, CoinArchives, or Berk photofile. Cf. Varbanov 1290 (left-facing, heroic portrait with aegis, on reverse Apollo sacrificing left not right). Green and red patina. Extremely fine. Ex Tkalec, 23 October 1998, lot 218. In 214 Caracalla began an expedition against the Parthians, imagining himself the reincarnation of Alexander the Great and enrolling a phalanx of six-foottall Macedonians in Alexander’s homeland. It appears from the coins that when Caracalla passed through Thrace, the Commune of the Thracians held special games in his honor at Philippopolis, named “Alexandrian” because Caracalla now considered himself Alexander. Doubtless they were actually attended by the emperor and his army. These games were the occasion of the large issue of coins and medallions of Caracalla with the reverse legend “The Commune of the Thracians (is holding) Pythian games honoring Alexander in Philippopolis.” Though the reverse type of our medallion may be unpublished, its obverse die is well known, also occurring with the reverse types Arrival of Caracalla on Horseback; Victorious Caracalla Placing Foot on Parthian Captive; Group of Asclepius, Hygieia, and Telesphorus; Asclepius Standing; and Heracles Leaning on his Club (Hercules Farnese). See Varbanov 1251, 1258, and 1283; Munzzentrum Koln 64, April 1988, lot 422; and NFA XVIII, Part II, 1 April 1987, lot 515. © 2005-2008 Gemini, LLC | Email: info@geminiauction.com ... Lot 445 was unsold. Gemini Auctions' results, text and images are re-used by the kind permission of: Freeman & Sear (www.freemanandsear.com) and Harlan J Berk (www.harlanjberk.com)