PAMPHYLIA. Side. Circa 205-100 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 31 mm, 16.82 g, 1 h), De..., magistrate. Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet; on cheek, countermark: bow in bowcase with ΣAP to left within round incuse. Rev. ΔΗ Nike advancing left, holding wreath in her right hand; to left, pomegranate. Seyrig, Side 9. SNG Paris 682-683. Some weakness on the reverse from countermarking, otherwise, very fine.


In the 180s BC, several cities using cistophoric coinage started to apply countermarks on posthumous Alexanders and on Attic weight coins from four Pamphylian cities, namely Phaselis, Perge, Aspendos and, most importantly, Side, whose coinage makes up roughly 80% of all countermarked Pamphylian tetradrachms. The so-called ‘cistophoric’ countermarks were applied by no less than eleven cities, sharing a common design flanked with the abbreviated name of the countermarking authority, and were intended to revaluate Attic weight coins to the cistophoric standard. In the case of this piece, the countermark was applied by the city of Sardes