The Duke of Northumberland's collection of Roman Republican coins

[Roman Collector]

I enjoy old numismatic references. I just learned of this quaint old book, the 1856 catalogue of the Duke of Northumberland's collection, free online here. It's fun, but undoubtedly outdated and its interpretation of the various coins' iconography should be taken with a grain of salt. Here's a screen shot of one of its pages.

[akeady]

Yes!

I like this book and have a couple of coins from the collection.   I gave a short talk on the book and its writer, Admiral Smyth, a few months back at the Numismatic Society of Ireland - we had a night where a few of us talked about our favourite books.

Smyth was an interesting character - Admiral Smyth - and did a lot of things besides numismatics.

As @Phil Davis says in his paper about Erato vs Terpsichore on the Pomponia Musa denarii, Smyth correctly identified Erato long before others decided on a convoluted scheme that made Erato very rare and mis-identified many coins as depicting Terpsichore.

The Northumberland collection was sold by Sotheby's in the 1980s.

This is one of the coins I have from the collection - I already had a better example of this coin, but not from an old collection, so bought it.

Gens:	Pinaria
Moneyer:	Pinarius Natta
Coin:	Silver Denarius X - Helmeted head of Roma right NATTA - Victory in biga right
Exergue:	ROMA
Mint:	Rome (149 BC)
Wt./Size/Axis:	3.40g / 18mm / 9h
References:	RSC 1 (Pinaria) Sydenham 390 Crawford 208/1 Smyth p. 167 #45 (this coin)
Provenances:	Ex. Noble Sale 107A, lot 3573 Ex. Colin Pitchfork Collection Ex. Sotheby's 4-Nov-1982, lot 232 Ex. Duke of Northumberland Collection
Acquisition:	Del Parker NYINC Bourse 11-Jan-2019

ATB,
Aidan.

Edited November 28, 2023 by akeady

[Prieure de Sion]

3 hours ago, Roman Collector said:

I enjoy old numismatic references. I just learned of this quaint old book, the 1856 catalogue of the Duke of Northumberland's collection, free online here.

Thanks for that, very interesting.

 

----

By the way, if anyone is interested, my official title is Laird of Glencoe (Scotland). About 30 years ago my family bought a 1x1 meter piece of land in Scotland (it was probably fashionable back then to sell a star name or a piece of land on the moon - or a 1x1 meter piece of land on Scottish soil).

Be that as it may, for 30 years I have owned a 1x1 meter piece of land with nothing but wild grass on it in an area that no one has set foot on for centuries. But I am Laird of Glencoe.

So if you have bought or are going to buy a coin from me - you are welcome to write on the card as your pedigree: "Republican Denarius, Metellus Scipio, bought from the Laird of Glencoe"...! 

😛😂

[akeady]

3 hours ago, Prieure de Sion said:

Thanks for that, very interesting.

 

----

By the way, if anyone is interested, my official title is Laird of Glencoe (Scotland). About 30 years ago my family bought a 1x1 meter piece of land in Scotland (it was probably fashionable back then to sell a star name or a piece of land on the moon - or a 1x1 meter piece of land on Scottish soil).

Be that as it may, for 30 years I have owned a 1x1 meter piece of land with nothing but wild grass on it in an area that no one has set foot on for centuries. But I am Laird of Glencoe.

So if you have bought or are going to buy a coin from me - you are welcome to write on the card as your pedigree: "Republican Denarius, Metellus Scipio, bought from the Laird of Glencoe"...! 

😛😂

And it won't even be fake provenance 😄

ATB,
Aidan.

[Prieure de Sion]

4 minutes ago, akeady said:

And it won't even be fake provenance

Don't give me any stupid ideas 😄 😄 

[Jason23]

Great post! I too have a  coin from his collection.  This coin is listed in Smyth under Tablet XIV, no. 18 (p.215).  

[Octavius]

On 11/28/2023 at 10:50 AM, Prieure de Sion said:

Thanks for that, very interesting.

 

----

By the way, if anyone is interested, my official title is Laird of Glencoe (Scotland). About 30 years ago my family bought a 1x1 meter piece of land in Scotland (it was probably fashionable back then to sell a star name or a piece of land on the moon - or a 1x1 meter piece of land on Scottish soil).

Be that as it may, for 30 years I have owned a 1x1 meter piece of land with nothing but wild grass on it in an area that no one has set foot on for centuries. But I am Laird of Glencoe.

So if you have bought or are going to buy a coin from me - you are welcome to write on the card as your pedigree: "Republican Denarius, Metellus Scipio, bought from the Laird of Glencoe"...! 

😛😂

I hope the Scottish government doesn't hit you up with a 30 year property tax bill. "Laird"!

[Prieure de Sion]

5 hours ago, Octavius said:

hope the Scottish government doesn't hit you up with a 30 year property tax bill. "Laird"!

I hope the tax for a 1x1m square isn’t so high. But after 30 years… Maybe they will use it to balance the state budget.

But if that is the case, I will call the Scottish nobility to revolt, put myself at the head - and in the end have myself proclaimed king. Long live Bruce McJörg!