red_spork

My latest, an extremely rare Crawford 45/3 Sestertius. This is the sibling issue to the extremely rare Crawford 45/1 denarius with fully incuse ROMA, thought by some scholars to be the first denarius, a type I am still missing and may never acquire. It also has a quinarius sibling which I will share below. This denomination is tough because there are a handful of these Roma/Dioscuri sestertii but aside from the common Crawford 44/7, all are very rare to unique, so it is always a good day when I can add a new one:

Roman Republic AR Sestertius(12mm, 1.08 g). Anonymous. After 211 B.C. Uncertain mint. Head of Roma right, wearing winged helmet ornamented with griffin's head and three-piece visor, earring an necklace; behind, IIS. Border of dots / Dioscuri on horseback riding right, each holding couched spear and wearing chlamys, cuirass and pileus surmounted by star; in relief in linear frame, ROMA. Line border. Crawford 45/3; Russo RBW -

Privately purchased from Jason Irving, 28 April 2024, ex Artemide 60E, 3 September 2022, lot 219

Its sibling quinarius, a type I acquired in 2019 which is at best scarce and the most common denomination of the series with more examples and dies known than the denarii and sestertii combined. Note in particular how similar the reverse is. Some sestertius dies have a much closer obverse as well:

Roman Republic AR Quinarius(16mm, 2.28 g, 12h). Anonymous. After 211 B.C. Uncertain(perhaps Apulian?) mint. Head of Roma right, wearing winged helmet ornamented with griffin's head and three-piece visor, earring an necklace; behind, V. Border of dots / Dioscuri on horseback riding right, each holding couched spear and wearing chlamys, cuirass and pileus surmounted by star; in relief in linear frame, ROMA. Line border. Crawford 45/2; Russo RBW 180; Sydenham 169.

Ex CNG Triton XXII, 1/9/2019, lot 787, ex Alan J Harlan collection, ex Spink Numismatic Circular April 1997, 1404

I am a huge fan of overstrikes, I even co-authored a paper on them with Andrew McCabe some time ago. My favorites are when you have two opposing sides in a conflict overstriking captured examples of each other's coins and here are two of my favorite examples:

Rome over Carthage: 
Roman Republic Æ Semis(11.47g, 27mm). Anonymous, after 211 BC, mint in Southern Italy, Sicily or Sardinia. Laureate head of Saturn right, S behind/Prow of galley right, S above, ROMA below. McCabe Anonymous group H1(half weight overstrikes); Cf. Crawford 56/3
Overstruck on Carthaginian bronze with head of Tanit left/Horse standing right, head turned left. For overstrike, cf Hersh, Numismatic Chronicle 1953, 6; Crawford, overstrikes 31.

And Rome over Akarnanian League:

Roman Republic Æ Triens(20mm, 5.88g, 12h), anonymous("CA" series), 209-195 B.C., Canusium(?) mint. Helmeted head of Minerva right; above, •••• / Prow right; above, ROMA; below, ••••; to right, CA. Crawford 100/3; Sydenham 309c
Overstruck on Oiniadai, Akarnania Zeus/Acheloüs, cf. BCD Akarnania 345-348 for undertype. For CA triens overstruck on Oiniadai cf. Hersh NC 1953, 14 and cf. Crawford Table XVIII, 91
Ex Stevex6 Collection via coin.ages, eBay, January 27 2018, ex RBW Collection, CNG e-auction 364, December 2 2015, lot 90, ex Stacks Coin Galleries, August 20 1986, lot 117, ex Frederick S. Knobloch Collection, Stacks May 4 1978, lot 90

Won at Naville this morning. The quartuncia(quarter uncia) is a new denomination for me

Roman Republic Æ Quartuncia(2.69g, 15mm), anonymous semilibral series. 217-215 BC. Head of Roma right, wearing attic helmet / Prow right; above, ROMA. McCabe Group AA; Crawford 38/8

A great big Roman Republic post semilibral struck as, 54.64g and 39 mm and a rare type not in Crawford.

Roman Republic As(39mm, 54.64g), Anonymous post-semilibral series, 215-212 BC, Rome mint. Laureate head of Janus; above, I / Prow of galley right; above, I; ROMA below. Crawford 41/5 var(no struck as listed); McCabe group A2; R. Russo, Essays Hersh, 1 & 4-7 and pl. 15, 1 & 4-7

Ex Musa Numismatic Art, 20 April 2024, ex W.B. and R.E. Montgomery collection, ex Ed Waddell, ex Bombarda Collection, A. Tkalec AG Auction September 2008, 8 September 2008, lot 206

It's a big one:

I've got this funny looking piece of green glass that I know was formed right around 5:29 AM on July 16, 1945 because it's a piece of Trinitite, glass made from the desert floor during the Trinity test of the first atomic bomb. It's not extremely radioactive at this point, and it's almost entirely alpha radiation that is blocked by the capsule I usually keep it in but it will still make a geiger counter make funny noises as the video shows below(sorry for my voice, my wife, son and I were stuck at home sick and I was playing with radioactive bits and bobs to pass the time):

My favorite victoriatus. I can't give any details about the cleaning process, I sent it to a professional who had it for a few months

Hopefully this guy can come to the party. He's just slightly bigger at about 13.5mm at the widest point measured by my calipers but you don't see these half victoriati often at all and you could be forgiven for mistaking them for a silver sestertius(even though they're about 40-50% heavier):

Roman Republic AR Half Victoriatus(13.5 mm, 1.45g). Anonymous("VB" series). ca. 211-208 B.C. Uncertain mint(traditionally, Vibo Valentium). Laureate head of Jupiter right. Bead and reel border / Victory standing right, crowning trophy with wreath; VB ligate on exergue between; S to right. ROMA in exergue. Line border. Crawford 95/2

And of course my silver sestertii. Everyone needs one of these especially if you collect the later big bronze ones:

Roman Republic AR Sestertius(12.75 mm, 1.14 g, 2h). Anonymous, first anonymous denarius coinage series. Circa 211 B.C. Rome mint. Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, IIS. Border of dots / Dioscuri galloping right; in linear frame, ROMA. Line border. Crawford 44/7; Sydenham 142; RSC 4; Russo RBW 176-177.

Roman Republic AR Sestertius(12.7mm, 1.12g, 11h), Anonymous(Uninscribed sibling of Corn-ear series), 211-208 B.C., Sicilian mint. Helmeted head of Roma right with "spike" on rear of helmet; behind, IIS / The Dioscuri galloping right; below, ROMA in linear frame. Crawford 68/3; Russo RBW 284; Sydenham -

I actually recently added an updated "denominations" photo to my website showing the relative sizes of all these types. Those interested can find it here.

1 hour ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

I'm not sure what the victoriatus from the "sol-uuu-dus" video would go for, but I wouldn't have been all that happy with it, after spending $650.

Not worth $650. It's from the recent hoard that hit the market from the looks of it. The coins are 80-90% badly struck or with bad surfaces or both like this one and would not sell well to actual collectors but they're a slabber's dream because all are "MS" or "AU" and as such most have been sold by outfits like this that cater to people who know nothing about ancients

Finally getting around to photographing another recent pickup. I won this in the recently closed HJB Buy or Bid Sale, a post-semilibral cast(aes grave) triens, and a surprisingly rare type. Only 4 including this example on ACSearch. This triens is from the period and from a series minted during the changeover from cast to struck bronzes and as such overlaps with some of the earliest struck trientes.

Roman Republic Æ Aes Grave Triens(29.5 mm, 25.20 g), anonymous, 215-212 B.C., Rome mint. Helmeted head of Minerva left; •••• / Prow left; ••••. Crawford 41/7a; Vecchi ICC 111; Haeberlin pl. 51 22-27

Berk shipped this coin remarkably fast but it went missing in the mail for 2 weeks. I was worried it was lost until it finally got an "out for delivery" scan out of the blue one morning and was in my mailbox an hour later

A rare half victoriatus, one of the rarest denominations of the entire Roman Republic series. I also shared it here in Phil's thread discussing his really amazing example of the type. Mine is an ugly looking coin but an important type for a collection like mine

Roman Republic AR Half Victoriatus(13.5 mm, 1.45g). Anonymous(""VB"" series). ca. 211-208 B.C. Uncertain mint(traditionally, Vibo Valentium). Laureate head of Jupiter right. Bead and reel border / Victory standing right, crowning trophy with wreath; VB ligate on exergue between; S to right. ROMA in exergue. Line border. Crawford 95/2

I'm gonna revive this thread to share a coin I was very happy to recently be able to add to my collection. As is often the case, Phil owns perhaps one of the best examples known of the type and I own one of the worst, but I am happy all the same to own any example of this rare denomination:

Roman Republic AR Half Victoriatus(13.5 mm, 1.45g). Anonymous("VB" series). ca. 211-208 B.C. Uncertain mint(traditionally, Vibo Valentium). Laureate head of Jupiter right. Bead and reel border / Victory standing right, crowning trophy with wreath; VB ligate on exergue between; S to right. ROMA in exergue. Line border. Crawford 95/2

15 hours ago, Dafydd said:

Although significantly later, this is an easy to acquire pair that many of us may have.

And this is still one I somehow don't have either of the coins of. Nice coins!

15 hours ago, Dafydd said:

Great coins @red_sporknice to see your coins in Abafil cases I use them exclusively now and photographed this pair on the inner lid of one.

Yes I've been a huge fan of them for a few years now. They are really the best way I've found to store coins. I only store aes rude and aes grave separately since they don't fit my trays very well and I haven't really found a great way to store them.

I'm excited to share a couple of interesting coins I recently picked up and unlike most of my posts I'm going to post the pictures right here at the start:

Confused? Think you're seeing double? This pair of coins are two different denominations from the same Crawford 26 series, a didrachm and drachm, respectively. A few of the predenarius didrachm issues have fractional pieces like this drachm but they are all considerably rarer than their didrachm siblings for reasons that aren't completely obvious. The types here seemingly have no extremely special meaning and seem to be recreating the second Roman didrachm, Crawford 15/1, which itself seems to have types inspired by the coinage of Arpi. Full IDs and a picture of both coins side by side so you can see the relative sizes:

Roman Republic AR Didrachm(19mm, 6.64g, 3h), anonymous, circa 235 BC, Rome mint. Laureate head of Apollo right / Horse rearing left; above ROMA. Crawford 26/1; Sydenham 27; BMCRR Romano-Campanian 68; HN Italy 306
and
Roman Republic AR Drachm(15mm, 3.19g, 8h), anonymous, circa 235 BC, Rome mint. Laureate head of Apollo right / Horse rearing left; above ROMA. Crawford 26/2; Sydenham 28; HN Italy 307; BMCRR Romano-Campanian 69b
Privately purchased from a friend in February 2024, privately purchased by him from Andrew McCabe in 2022, ex Roma Numismatics Auction 9, 22 March 2015, lot 492

This isn't my absolute latest but it's part of my backlog I've been meaning to share for a bit. An interesting aes rude with crescent and cross stamps. The meaning of these stamps is not really clear but there are some documented finds around Etruria and later aes grave with similar symbols.

Italy, Æ Aes Rude(19.64g), before 4th century B.C.. Irregular cast lump with u(crescent?) and +(star of 4 rays?), mark of value. Cf Vecchi ICC 2.2

1 hour ago, CPK said:

One thing I wish HJB would do differently is update the auction listings when a coin is sold. I had a number of coins on my watchlist on biddr, then happened to go to HJB's own website only to find that a lot of them had apparently already been sold. Yet they were still listed on biddr/Numisbids at starting price. How does that work?

 

I could be wrong but I suspect the auction houses do not control the listing on those sites when they're not actually auctioning the coins on them directly. I've seen this with a few others as well. I believe it's up to the platform to properly detect that a given coin is sold and what the current bid level is and it doesn't work right with some auction houses.

2 hours ago, SteveJBrinkman said:

Many congratulations Jordan on the acquisition of this rare early type.  I haven't been in Numis Forums for a while so  I was glad to see this posting.  The 46/1 issue was at the top of my want list for many years.  These earliest of the Roman Republican anonymous denarii have fascinated me and the unique style of this issue is immediately recognizable as being separate from the more common 44/5 group for which the 46/1 specimens are often mistaken for.   A couple of years ago, I won my example and I'm happy with it.  Here is my example (with spears).  

 

Thanks for the kind words! Yours is a really wonderful example of 46/1 that I've been impressed by ever since you emailed letting me know you'd won it a few years ago. Yours is a better example than mine in several ways and I really hope I can find one as nice as yours but with the spears one of these days. Your website and Pierluigi's papers on this issue have made me want to try and collect all the varieties of 46 though I suspect it will take a long time to fill the remaining slots.

This coin arrived safe and sound at my house yesterday. I was happy to see the toning was as beautiful in hand as expected from the pictures. Here it is beside my rather bright and untoned(despite almost 23 years of provenance) "46A" denarius which I shared back in the Cointalk days. Both of these varieties are very rare and in the 10 years I've been collecting I only recall seeing these two isolated examples of these varieties(46A and 46/1 with no lances) ever come up for sale so I am very to have been able to acquire both of them

9 minutes ago, Victrix said:

@red_spork Could you shed some more light onto this denarius if you have the time? Bought it as anonymous but from what I can tell it's Sicily aswell staff series.

Cheers! 

You are correct. It is the Sicilian staff series

Sicily. It is a Crawford 68/1b, the anonymous (unsymboled) sibling of the Crawford 68/1a denarius with corn-ear mintmark. The stylistic hallmark of this series is the prominent spike on the back of the helmet that you can see on this denarius with symbol and this sestertius as well. The unsymboled quinarius and denarius are scarce but the ones with symbols are extremely rare and seem to come up for sale once every 5-10 years on average. Also note how close the denarii are in overall style, compare the shape of Roma's head and visor and the cape on the nearest dioscuri

It's a very odd looking coin for sure. I agree, it does look like a plated coin someone has applied some silver paint to to try to pass it as solid. The weight is basically impossibly low so I don't think there's any chance it's an official coin from the Rome mint of this period.

1 minute ago, filolif said:

I have emailed Leu about this very thing. I don't expect to hear back but it's completely in their court to follow up and try to determine if that's the case. We won't ever have access to the buyer's information.

It's not uncommon for cast fakes to make it to market years after the host coin specifically to make it harder to tell where they're coming from and also because the host coin is likely to sell for a lower price if some people see the casts and think it might be one and the forgers rarely want to devalue their own coins. I'd say it's equally likely the Leu 2018 consignor is making these forgeries, for whatever that's worth.

13 hours ago, Curtis JJ said:

Oh, wow, haha! I recognize this one on my watchlist. I wasn't planning to bid (its subtleties would've been lost on me). But I was curious about it and, looking at those beautiful surfaces, figured that someone with a good library for Republican coins could find a pre-1970 provenance for it! 

It's always nice to see where a coin like that has gone (clearly to the right place!) but especially nice in this case to actually learn what makes this coin special after wondering about it!

I almost let this coin go myself to be honest. I kinda waffled over it because while it was special, the auction house had identified it correctly enough that I suspected it would get very expensive, as seems to be my luck, and after completely striking out even with aggressive bids in Triton I was not hopeful. After a week of not being able to stop thinking about the coin I finally just decided I had to buy it whatever the cost and I'd bid an absolutely stupid amount and hope the coin gods would smile upon me. Thankfully the price, while not "cheap", was a lot more reasonable than I'd planned for. I really expected there would be other bidders bidding me up in the last few minutes but no one showed up.

2 hours ago, DonnaML said:

The nearer of the Dioscuri is certainly depicted with his hand in position to hold a lance, as on the other dies. But there's nothing there. Other than "the engraver simply forgot to put in the lances," can you think of any possible reason for the omission on this one die?

I can't think of any reason other than a simple mistake. There are other dies very similar and seemingly from the same hand that depict the lances so it seems like the engraver simply forgot.

As an illustration of the lances here is a different anonymous denarius from my collection with lances, the two horizontal lines in the middle of the reverse:

Roman Republic AR Denarius(19mm, 4.47 g, 1h), anonymous(related to C AL series), 209-208 B.C., Sicilian mint. Helmeted head of Roma right with loop beneath visor; behind, X / The Dioscuri galloping right; below, ROMA in linear frame. Crawford 75/1c; Sydenham 191a; Russo RBW 321

Yesterday I added a variety to my collection that I have wanted to find an example of for several years now, ever since reading Pierluigi Debernardi's die study of Crawford 46. For those less familiar with these coins, Crawford 46 is a relatively rare series of anonymous denarii from an uncertain mint known in about 40 examples. The coins confusingly come from a relatively small number of dies but in 3  markedly different obverse styles which have reverse die links between them and as such seem to be a single emission from one small short lived Second Punic War field mint. This coin is from the main or most common obverse style but its reverse die has a feature that is, to my knowledge, unique across the entire Roma/Dioscuri denarius series: the dioscuri are missing the lances on the reverse, usually depicted as a pair of parallel horizontal lines. Every single denarius, quinarius or sestertius I've ever seen have had those lances except the handful known from this single reverse die which I find a really cool and interesting feature.

If you check the die study link above you'll also notice this coin is actually cited in it as De Nicola FPL September 1970 so that provenance was a nice unexpected bonus as well.

Roman Republic AR Denarius(4.06g, 12h). Anonymous. After 211 B.C. Uncertain mint. Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, X. Border of dots / Dioscuri galloping right(without usual lances); in linear frame, ROMA. Line border. Crawford 46/1; Pierluigi Debernardi "Studio Deo Conii di RRC 46/1 e 60/1c", Panorama Numismatico 11/2014, p. 16 number 12(this coin) & dies 4/4

Ex Niels Bro Rasmussen collection, Bruun Rasmussen Online Auction 2403, 21 January 2024, lot 5019, ex Jens Hermann collection, Museumsbygningen Kunstauktioner Auktion 35, 30 Oktober 2004, lot 272, ex Høeg Albrethsen collection, Kunsthallen Kunstauktioner 376, 15 March 1989, lot 2, ex Luigi De Nicola FPL September 1970 lot 256

As always feel free to post anything related