Roman Republican Coins: Collector Notes on Deacquisition - September 2012

The following list of coins, from my personal collection, are to be auctioned at ROMA Numismatics Sale IV, 29th September 2012. The descriptions are those of ROMA Numismatics; the majority of the photos (with some exceptions) were taken by me. As I will be bidding farewell to these coins, retaining only the photos in memory, I thought that future collectors would wish to benefit from some Notes on Deacquisition, including provenance details. The coins will be available for bidding until September 29th, and those interested in joining their collecting history to mine can clink on the blue link, or the images, to go direct to the online auction listing where bids can be made.

Consistent with my usual standards for eccentrcity, my collector notes are an eclectic rag-bag. Topics covered include:

• d'Ailly's worm.
• Nomadic travel across seas and deserts and the pursuit of coin collecting.
• Towing ships up the Tiber, by girdle.
• Clodius according to Cicero.
• Cronos' gruesome treatment of his father, by harpa.
• Slaughtering fowls in a farmyard, and how this relates to healthy sports.
• The trees of a sacred grove of Asklepios.
• "The real Simon Pure", a character in Centlivre's Bold Stroke for a Wife, 1717.
• India ink cabinet stickers, possibly in Greek.

In addition to the Roman Republican coins on this webpage, I am also parting with a group of Roman Provincial coins. These are covered in a separate web-page, Notes on Deacquisition, September 2012 - Roman Provincial Coinage. Some of these are rare and of very high quality for their types; others are rare and of less good quality! I illustrate a few samples below:

Disclaimer: The majority of the photos on this page were taken by me, some many years ago. Natural patination processes may have resulted in surface colour changes since my photos were taken many years ago. In a contrasting effect, many of the coins in hand have more colourful patinas than are suggested by the sales photos, which tend to be more neutral in tone. In some cases my photos may better reflect the coins' colour. However ultimately the sales photographs and descriptions should be relied on as regards condition and patina, and the photos below do not form part of the sales description. Likewise all the views expressed in the paragraphs that commence AM, including those that relate to condition and desirability, are not part of the sales description, but are my own personal opinions as the past collector of these coins.

Roman Republican Coins: My Collector Notes:

Lot 2568: Anonymous Cast Æ Quadrans.

Anonymous Cast Æ Quadrans. Rome, c. 270.Two barleycorns / Barley grain; pellet to r. RRC 14/4; HNItaly 271; TV 4. 90g, 42mm. Dark patina, F

AM: An old cabinet mark, India ink on paper, was affixed to this coin for the last couple of centuries, but has since been removed. It was an important part of the coin's provenance, irrespective of aesthetics. It is perhaps in Greek text, but I have not yet worked out its meaning - any suggestions would be very welcome. It had long been standard practice to mark coins directly with India ink or with paper stickers. Whilst conservation concerns have stopped the practice, it has the merit of directly attaching the provenance to the coin. Displays of older acquisitions of all classes of object, in museums collections, often show these marks. Given its apparent Greek text on a Roman coin type I suspect this mark to be that of a private cabinet rather than an ex-museum specimen. Collectors would be advised to conserve such marks because, even if not understood today, they may, in time, provide evidence for students of numismatic history about long-dispersed cabinets. Purchased from Baldwin's, 1992.

Lot 2570: Anonymous Cast Æ Uncia.

Anonymous Cast Æ Uncia. Rome, c. 270. Barley grain / Barley grain; pellet to r. RRC 18/6; HNItaly 284; TV 13. 15.08g, 22mm, 12h. Dark green patina, F

AM: The smaller denominations of the earliest Aes Grave issues reflected natural objects whose cast form equates approximately in size to their necessary weight. A scallop shell cast in bronze weighs some two ounces, and was used as the RRC 14 Sextans type. An astragalus or knucklebone cast in bronze weighs about an ounce and was used as the RRC 14 Uncia type. And an acorn cast in bronze weighed about a half ounce and was used as the RRC 14 Semucia type. For this type, RRC 18, we have a barley grain, perhaps not something one expects to weigh an ounce, but a handful of grain was the origin of the word drach. So this type may have been intended to evoke the basic unit of weight and value in the Roman system, an Uncia. Purchased from Baldwin's, 1998.

Lot 2580: Q series AR Victoriatus.

Q series AR Victoriatus. Apulia, c. 211-210. Laureate head of Jupiter r. / Victory standing r., crowning trophy, holding shield and spear; Q between them. RRC 102/1; RSC 36k. 2.88g, 14mm, 12h. Toned VF

AM: Note the form of the letter Q, consistent on all Victoriati and Quinarii of RRC 102, and which d'Ailly thought was a worm; discussed on RRC p.192-193. Purchased from Bill Randel, 2004.

Lot 2606: L. Lic Cn.Dom Plated AR Serrate Denarius.

L. Lic Cn.Dom Plated AR Serrate Denarius. Narbo, c. 118 BC. Helmeted head of Roma r.; X behind / Gallic warrior (Bituitus?) driving galloping biga r., hurling spear and holding shield and carnyx. RRC 282/4; RSC Pomponia 7a. 2.98g, 19mm, 7h. Toned VF

AM: H.B. Mattingly in "The Numismatic Evidence and the Founding of Narbo Martius", proposes that the Narbo issues of L.LIC, CN.DOM with M.AVRELI SCAVRI, L.PORCI LICI, L.POMPONI C.F. (this coin), L.COSCO M.F. and C. MALLE C.F. be redated to 115 to 113 BC rather than 118 BC. This coin has intact plating with the only breaks being in the serrations; I bought this as a good silver piece and only noticed the plating years later after inspecting this new photo. I have assembled a significant body of work that supports the now conventional and accepted view of plated coins - i.e. that they are all, virtually without exception, ancient forgeries - on my webpage Plated Coins - False Coins of the Roman Republic. Purchased from Baldwin's, 1994.

Lot 2607: P. Nerva AR Denarius.

P. Nerva AR Denarius. Rome, c. 113-112. Helmeted bust of Roma l., holding shield and spear over shoulder; crescent above, mark of value to l. / Three citizens voting on comitium: one voter receives ballot from attendant below, another voter places ballot in cista. RRC 292/1; RSC Licinia 7. 3.87g, 15mm, 10h. Toned VF

AM: Perhaps the best voting scene on an ancient coin, showing the ponticulus of the Comitia, which was a narrow passage to and from the place of assembly for voting. A voter going through the ponticulus receives a voting tablet from a distributor, and the right end another voter is casting his vote. Purchased from Baldwin's, 1998.

Lot 2626: L. Memmi Gal AR Serrate Denarius.

L. Memmi Gal AR Serrate Denarius. Rome, c. 106. Laureate head of Saturn l.; E• before, harpa behind / Venus in biga r., Cupid flying above with laurel wreath. RRC 313/1b; RSC Memmia 2. 3.63g, 17mm, 6h. Toned, good VF

AM: The harpa behind Saturn is a sickle with teeth, used to harvest grain. Saturn's father, Uranus, hated and imprisoned his children by Gaia, the earth goddess. Gaia made a sickle, and her son Cronos, or the Roman Saturn, castrated Uranus with it. The sickle thus becomes Saturn's symbol of power. On this coin the reverse die has multiple small die breaks, and was probably near its end. Purchased from Mike Vosper, 2005.

Lot 2634: A. Albinvs S.f AR Denarius.

A. Albinvs S.f AR Denarius. Rome, c. 96. Laureate head of Apollo r.; star of six rays behind, mark of value below chin / The Dioscuri standing l. beside their horses, which are standing l., drinking from fountain; crescent to l. RRC 335/10a; RSC Postumia 5a. 2.98g, 19mm, 7h. F-VF

AM: The reverse field shows Castor and Pollux with their horses drinking at a trough, with above a crescent. This refers to the story of two beautiful youths, or rather godlings, who came to Rome with the news of a victory over the Tarquinian forces, and while refreshing their foaming horses at the public fountain asked that the news of the victory be carried to the senate. At the great battle near Lake Regillus, these youths, on white horses, were seen fighting with the utmost valour on the side of the Romans. Of course, they were pronounced to be the Dioscuri, and the grateful victor afterwards dedicated a temple to Castor and Pollux in the forum. Cicero, however, is a troublesome sceptic at times. "Do you believe," he asks, "that the Tyndaridae (the Greek Dioscuri) appeared to Vatienus on the road, mounted on white horses, to tell a Roman victory to a country fellow rather than to M. Cato, who was at that time the chief person of the Senate? Do you take that print of a horse's hoof, which is now to be seen at Regillus, to be made by Castor's horse?" The reinforcement of the story on this coin, which Cicero thought as nonsense, might be thought of as an instance of how "it is written in the books" is advanced to impose on the weak, and to silence incredulity. Purchased Den of Antiquity, 2009.

Lot 2638: L.Piso L.f. L.n Frvgi Æ Semis.

L.Piso L.f. L.n Frvgi Æ Semis. Rome, c. 90. Laureate head of Saturn r.; S behind / Prow r. RRC 340/5b. 4.77g, 21mm, 4h. Dark patina, VF

AM: Purchased Artemide Aste, 2008.

Lot 2641: C. Vibivs C.f Pansa Æ As.

C. Vibivs C.f Pansa Æ As. Rome, c. 90. Laureate head of Janus / Three prows r., on which palm branch and caps of Dioscuri. RRC 342/7a. 9.78g, 28mm, 9h. Dark patina, F

AM: An attractive Janus head for this, usually badly produced, semuncial aes coinage. Note that Janus' head is not split by the value in the middle, as was usual for all bronzes of the third and second centuries BC.

Lot 2655: L. Svlla Impe and L. Manli Proq AR Denarius.

L. Svlla Impe and L. Manli Proq AR Denarius. Military mint moving with Sulla, c. 82. Helmeted head of Roma r. / Sulla driving triumphal quadriga r., holding branch, crowned by Victory flying l. RRC 367/5; RSC Manlia 4. 3.81g, 16mm, 9h. Toned VF

AM: This is a misunderstood series that demands more research. Phil Davis has noted that the key design difference is not the lettering variations on the obverse but the form of the triumphal chariots on the reverse. On the example above, the front-most horse, of the group of four, is at the left when viewed from the perspective of the Triumphator. On a different type, RRC 367/1, the front-most horse is at the Triumphator's right side. The above illustrated coin also has a different obverse legend to the linked RRC 367/1 which shows an unrecorded control mark in the field. In short, this is a wholly misunderstood series that has not been properly described in RRC, with many varieties yet to be discovered; a worthy subject of a specialist collection focus. There are some deposits in right hand reverse field of this otherwise well-preserved coin. Purchased from Baldwin's, 1992.

Lot 2658: EX S.C AR Denarius.

EX S.C AR Denarius. Rome, c. 84-83. Head of Venus r., wearing stephane; F behind / Cornucopia tied with fillet within wreath. RRC 376/1; RSC Cornelia 44. 3.20g, 18mm, 6h. Very rare. F

AM: Venus on the obverse of this coin, Sulla's patron deity, identify it as a Sullan issue despite the lack of a legend indicating its issuer. This is a very rare type. It also marked a memorable point in my history of coin-collecting which invites a personal digression. For many years I lived an entirely nomadic life. I had no home, not even a rental, but carried out my work in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, living out of temporary and changing rooms near my worksites. I travelled as light as a feather and on vacations I took the world for my home. I gave my travel agent a budget and told him to arrange a flight-only trip that coincided exactly with my time-off. He sent me to Ecuador, through Korea, from Mexico to Cuba, across deserts, by night-time boat across the Sea of Japan / East Sea of Korea and through the Dardanelles to Smyrna (not the same boat). I lived as light as I travelled, with a backpack, a bank-account and a coin collection, which was the lightest - by weight - collecting hobby one could think of. I might have been George Clooney's prototype for "Up in the Air". Then, in 1999, I came back to ground, got roots, bricks and mortar, which required that I sell a substantial portion of my better coins, keeping just a study collection. Two years later, feeling that I missed something caused me to resume, but it seemed not-right to just repeat the collecting already accompllished, of high grade pretty coins. So I resolved to do something very different. eBay had arrived as a forc. It became my new hobby to sweep up unrecognised great rarities on the bay. This was one of the first in my new collection of very rare coins and though the quality has improved over time I have kept my focus on unappreciated rarities. Purchased eBay US, 2002.

Lot 2663: Lent Cvr. Den. Fl AR Denarius.

Lent Cvr. Den. Fl AR Denarius. Spain (?) c. 76-75. Diademed and draped bust of Genius Populi Romani r.; sceptre over shoulder / Sceptre with wreath, globe, and rudder. RRC 393/1b; RSC Cornelia 55. 3.83g, 18mm, 3h. Toned VF

AM: H.B. Mattingly proposes that this RRC 393/1b type with the legend LENT.CVR.X FL. was struck in 58 BC and is an entirely separate issue from the RRC 393/1a type with legend CN.LEN.Q. EX S.C. He separates the types, despite both being present in the 58 BC Mesagne hoard, because the former (this coin type) is missing from early hoards such as Roncofreddo, Frascarolo or Pontecorvo. He suggests that the absence of the latter type from different earlier hoards is because it was struck for the Sertorian wars and exported to Spain. Mattingly proposes the 58 BC date for this LENT.CVR.X FL issue based on a reference in Cicero that suggests Clodius etablished a "Cura Denariorum Flandorum", the moneyer title shown on this coin. This type is much scarcer than the CN.LEN.Q. EX S.C. issue. Purchased from Baldwin's, 1998.

Lot 2665: C. Postvmi AT or TA AR Denarius.

C. Postvmi AT or TA AR Denarius. Rome, c. 73. Draped bust of Diana r., bow and quiver over shoulder / Hound running r.; spear below. RRC 394/1; RSC Postumia 9. 3.81g, 17mm, 6h. Toned VF

AM: The Duke of Northumberland's cataloguer, Admiral Henry Smyth, suggests the dog is a greyhound. "In the field a sporting dog running to the right, and under the legs is the venabulum, or hunter's lance; at once, in conjunction with the obverse, betokening the sports of the field and the public venations to which the Roman mobs were drawn; some of which shows bore more resemblance to the slaughtering of fowls in a farm-yard, than to active and healthy sporting. To be sure, the scene was frequently varied, by the introduction of creatures having better pretensions to courage than the hares, deer, and foxes, of the present day. More than was necessary has been recently written as to the genus of this dog, yet there is no great violence in concluding it to be intended for a greyhound." Purchased from Baldwin's, 1994.

Lot 2674: Marcellinvs AR Denarius.

Marcellinvs AR Denarius. Rome, c. 50. Bare head of the consul M. Claudius Marcellus r.; triskeles behind / M. Claudius Marcellus advancing r., carrying trophy into tetrastyle temple. RRC 439/1; RSC Claudia 11. Rare. F

AM: The obverse shows the beardless head of a man of mature age, in front of which we read MARCELLINVS. At the back of the neck appears the Trinacria, or three conjoined legs of Sicily. As to Marcellinus, it matters little who he was, but the profile is doubtlessly a portrait of the great Marcus Claudius Marcellus, and alludes to the conquest of Syracuse in 212 BC. The reverse shows a temple of four columns, ascending the steps of which is a veiled and togated Roman, bearing a trophy. This evidently alludes to Marcellus's having slain the King of the Gauls, Viridomarus with his own hand. Plutarch says that Marcellus, “by a thrust of his spear which pierced his adversary's breastplate, and by the impact of his horse in full career, threw him, still living, upon the ground, where, with a second and third blow, he promptly killed him.” Marcellus then extracted the armor from his fallen foe, which he pronounced as the spolia opima, meaning "ultimate spoil", the most prestigious and honorable prize that a general can earn. Thereupon he vowed to dedicate the spolia opima to Jupiter Feretrius, the predator, and that is the scene shown on this historic coin. Purchased eBay US, 2003.

Lot 2683: C. Clodivs C.f. Vestalis AR Denarius.

C. Clodivs C.f. Vestalis AR Denarius. Rome, c. 41. Draped bust of Flora r., wearing wreath of flowers and cruciform earring; C. F and lily at her shoulder / VESTALIS to r., veiled female seated l., holding a two-handled bowl in her r. hand. RRC 512/2; RSC Claudia 13. 3.44g, 18mm, 6h. Toned F

AM: The female on the obverse's hair is elaborately onrmanented with flowers, ear-rings and large pendants, and with a large flower behind her head, indicating Flora, whose games, the Floralia, were held at the start of May, the time for renewed cycle of life. Flowers decorated the temples, there was dancing and music, citizens wore colourful clothing, and milk and honey was offered to Flora. The reverse shows a sedent female, veiled and robed, holding out a simpulum in her right hand. The reverse may commemorate Quinta Claudia, who, in proof of purity, with her girdle drew a ship off a shoal near Ostia, and towed her up the Tiber, against the stream, to Rome. Alternately it may recognise the filial piety of another vestal Claudia, who courageously exposed herself to save her father from being dragged out of a chariot by the Tribune of the Plebs, for triumphing contrary to law. Purchased eBay US, 2003.

Lot 2684: M. Arrivs Secvndvs AR Denarius.

M. Arrivs Secvndvs AR Denarius. Rome, c. 41. Bare head of male (Octavian?) r., wearing slight beard / Vertical spear (hasta pura) between wreath and rectangular phalera. RRC 513/2; RSC Arria 2. 2.76g, 18mm, 11h. Very rare. Broken with piece missing and porous, F

AM: The obverse is certainly Octavian. Bernhard Woytek in 'Arma et Nummi' proposes to swap the Rome mint coins of 43 BC and 41BC, thus making this a Rome mint issue of 43BC, when Octavian, Julius Caesar and the still-alive and still-politically-powerful Brutus would have been a powerful trio of obverse images to use in a politically uncertain climate. The reverse shows a hasta-pura between a laurel garland and a phalera, or military distinction. This was in honour of the martial bearing of the Arrii; but the name does not occur in history till the first century BC; and it is even uncertain who this M. Arrius was, as well as whether Secundus was a cognomen or not. Quintus Arrius was praetor B.C. 72, and vanquished Crixius, the leader of the runaway slaves, killing 20,000 of his men; but he was afterwards defeated by Spartacus. He seems, however, to have been rewarded with gold phalarae to adorn his cuirass, similar in effect to an order of knighthood. Such bosses were also worn on various parts of the body. Purchased eBay US, 2011.

Lot 2687: Julius Caesar AR Denarius.

Julius Caesar AR Denarius. Rome, c. 40 BC or later. Ti.Sempronivs Graccvs IIIIVir, Q.Desig, moneyer. Laureate head of r. / Legionary standard, aquila, plow and surveyor's rod. RRC 525/4; RSC 48. 3.28g, 17mm, 7h. F

AM: The reverse shows a military standard, a legionary eagle, a plough, and a measuring-rod. The plough and measuring rod evidently refers to the founding of an unknown colony. Crawford describes this Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus as unknown. Smyth suggests this this may be the Gracchus who was the lover of Julia, the daughter of Augustus and wife of Tiberius, and says that if he actually were "the real Simon Pure" (a character in Centlivre's Bold Stroke for a Wife, 1717, who for part of the play is impersonated by another character, and later became a metaphorical reference to any superficially or hypocritically virtuous person), he was banished by Augustus to Cercina, a flat islet on the coast of Africa, where he lived miserably till the accession of Tiberius, who had him put to death in AD 14. "The assassins," says Tacitus, "found him on the point of a prominent neck of land, with a countenance fixed in sorrow and despair. As soon as the ruffians approached, he desired a short delay, that he might write the sentiments of a dying man to his wife Alliaria. Having dispatched that business he presented his neck to the murderer's stroke ; in his last moments worthy the Sempronian name". Purchased from Walter Holt, 2002.

Lot 2689: Sextus Pompey, AR Denarius.

Sextus Pompey, AR Denarius. Sicily c. 42-40 BC. Galley adorned with aquila, sceptre and trident before the Pharos of Messana, decorated with a statue of Neptune / The monster Scylla, her torso of dogs and fishes, wielding a rudder as a club. RRC 511/4a; RSC 2. 3.46g, 17mm, 11h. Porous F

AM: One of Sextus Pompey's Sicilian issues. The Pharos (lighthouse) of Messana, with a galley in front. The reverse shows the Scylla wielding a huge rudder as a weapon. Scylla was one of two monsters (with Charybdis) that guards a strait of water, an angry monster that stemmed from a beautiful nymph, and having 12 legs and six wolf heads at her waist. One one think this represents the guarding of the straits of Messana. Purchased eBay UK, 2009.

Lot 2697: Mark Antony AR Denarius.

Mark Antony AR Denarius. Eastern mint, c. 31 BC. Bare head r. / Victory standing l., holding palm in l. hand and wreath tied with fillet in r. hand; all within laurel wreath. RRC 545/1; RSC 11. 3.30g, 17mm, 12h. Porous, F

AM: Note the D.TVR in the reverse field, absent from the other coin of the same issue. It is a discreet signature, perhaps given the deteriorating military situation Turrulius did not want to draw too much attention to himself. Turullius was captured after Actium and sent to the island of Cos for execution, where in 43BC as a navy commander for Cassius he had cut down the trees of a sacred grove of Asklepios to build ships. Hence his death could be seen as a sacrifice to the god. Cassius struck a rare and elegant coin commorating his victory of 43BC at Rhodes and having the symbols of the crab (Cos) and rose (Rhodes). Purchased from eBay US, 2003.