SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Antioch. Gordian III, 238-244. Tetradrachm (Billon, 27 mm, 10.33 g, 1 h), Rome, for Antioch, December 243-January/February 244. ΑYΤΟΚ Κ Μ ΑΝΤ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC ЄΥCЄΒ CЄΒ Laureate and cuirassed bust of Gordian III to right, seen from behind. Rev. ΔΗΜΑΡΧ ЄΞΟΥCΙΑC Z / S C Eagle with spread wings standing facing on palm frond, head to left and holding wreath in beak. Bland, Coinage -, cf. 39-40 (differing bust types). McAlee -. Prieur -. RPC VII.2 online -. Apparently unpublished and of great numismatic interest. Harshly cleaned and with minor deposits and light doubling on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.



This unpublished and highly intriguing coin is distinguished by its unmistakably late Rome-style portrait and the cuirassed bust seen from behind - a type familiar from the antoniniani. According to Bland, only two other coins are known bearing the date of Gordian’s seventh tribunician power. These differ from the preceding issue not only in the reverse legend, but also in the extension of the obverse legend to include ЄΥCЄΒЄC, as well as the reintroduction of S C in the reverse exergue.

The two known tetradrachms each display a different bust type - cuirassed from the front, and draped and cuirassed seen from behind - making the present coin previously unrecorded. It features the cuirassed bust from behind, a form already familiar from the antoniniani struck around the same time.

Prieur and McAlee erroneously placed these coins at the very beginning of Gordian III’s tetradrachm production in Antioch. However, this newly surfaced specimen, struck from a different reverse die, confirms - through its bust type, among other features - a date in the final months of his reign.