The small pomegranate beside Nike is a pun in silver, because side meant pomegranate in the local Anatolian tongue and the city stamped its own name onto its coinage. This tetradrachm comes from Side, a wealthy harbor city on the southern coast of Asia Minor, and it was struck in the 2nd to 1st centuries BC. Side built its fortune on Mediterranean shipping, and its tetradrachms traveled far beyond Pamphylia on the Attic weight standard. Surviving pieces with this much detail left on them are what collectors of Greek silver look for first.

Athena fills the obverse in a crested Corinthian helmet, her hair falling in thick curls along her neck and her profile cut in sharp relief. The helmet crest shows crisp parallel lines, while the engraver gave her a calm, confident expression typical of the late Hellenistic style. On the reverse, Nike strides left with a wreath extended in her right hand, her wings and drapery rendered with strong device definition. The pomegranate sits in the left field above a magistrate's letters, a civic badge that identifies the city at a glance.

NGC graded this piece Extremely Fine with a Strike of 5/5 and a Surface of 4/5, and the coin weighs 16.98 grams. The full strike explains the bold hair, helmet, and wing feathers, and the metal carries light gray patina with darker tone settled in the recesses. A 5/5 strike is the top mark NGC gives, so this tetradrachm shows the type far better than the average circulated survivor. A welcome addition to any collection of Greek silver from Asia Minor.

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