Severus Alexander, AE42 medallion of Perinthos, Thrace. AD 222-235. AYT KM AYR CEV ALEZANDROC AY, laureate, cuirassed bust right, aegis on shoulder. PERINQIWNIWNW N B NEWKORWN (partially ligate) around, AKTI-A PYQ-IA in fields, Tyche standing left, holding temple in right hand, and a cornucopiae surmounted by a hexastyle temple. Two prize urns at foot left and right, one surmounted by a purse, the other by five golden balls. Varbanov 474; Moushmov 4635; Schönert-Geiss 784; Mionnet I, 322; Paris 1022; Vienna 8943; Schlessinger Hermitage theft sale, 486 (this coin). In 1934 Stalins's communist gangs ransacked the Hermitage collection in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) and stole nearly 2,000 valuable gold, silver and bronze coins. These were sent to Felix Schlessinger in Berlin for sale, the financial proceeds of which were used for the communist "cause". 1,655 coins were auctioned at three Schlessinger auctions, all described deliberately obscurely as "aus Museumsbesitz" ("from the possession of a museum"). The display cases which contained the stolen coins in the Hermitage now show empty spaces, in the heartbreaking hope that the coins will one day "come back home".