Rare quinarius of M. Mettius, 44 BC

[Phil Davis]

As @AncientJoe recently reminded us in his discussion of his wonderful new Galba sestertius (perhaps THE finest Galba sestertius in existence, but I digress!), sometimes it's still possible--even today when it seems all the best ancient coins appear at public auction--to acquire truly special things via private treaty. The coin I'm showing here isn't quite at that level, lol, but it's special enough in its own way. This is a very rare late quinarius struck in 44 BC by the moneyer M. Mettius, better known for striking Caesar portraits in the same year. The specs are:

Crawford 480/23, 15mm x 12mm, 1.52g. 

Obverse: Head of Juno Sospita r.; , coiled snake behind.

Reverse: Victory in prancing biga r., holding reins and whip; in exergue, M·METTI.

I was pleased when a friend--a serious collector and part-time dealer--offered this to me privately after expertly cleaning it. I was aware of it already; the previous owner had posted it on a Facebook ancient coin group (some members of this forum no doubt saw the same post), seeking help in identifying it. One know-it-all there smugly described it as a common denarius in bad condition, worth maybe $50, but others of us recognized what it really is. There are quite a few types of these late fractions, all of them genuinely rare and almost universally in dreadful shape, poorly struck and, especially, badly corroded from contact with the soil. Presumably, these quinarii and sestertii weren't hoarded much and most or all are single finds. I'm not aware of an explanation of why so many moneyers near the end of the Republic revived these fractional denominations, for the most part in abeyance for many decades. M. Mettius for instance also struck an excessively rare sestertius, Crawford 480/28 (precisely zero examples on Coin Archives.) This is literally the first example of any of these types I've added to my collection; it's just too painful to look at most of the few surviving examples, no matter how rare they are. This is really quite remarkably nice, although the largely missing legend on the reverse is a pity.

 

[expat]

Regardless of its "condition" it is a truly magnificent example to have been added to your collection. Congrats

[red_spork]

Phil,

As you may or may not know I was also offered this coin. I tried to get it but probably didn't offer enough so I'm glad you were able to get it. I only have one of these later fractions myself and it is quite ugly but also very very rare, as all these late Rome mint fractions are

Roman Imperatorial period AR Quinarius(1.74g), A. Licinius Nerva, 47 B.C., Rome mint. Helmeted head of Minerva right; behind, NERVA downwards. Border of dots/Victory walking right, holding wreath in right hand and palm-branch over left shoulder with left hand; before, A•LICINI downwards. Border of dots. Crawford 454/3

[Alegandron]

WOW, @Phil Davis, great coin!  I am a big Quinarius fan myself.  And, I congratulate your find!  Very very cool.

I purdy much keep to seeing family photos of FB, and won't post re: any Ancients there.  Although, I do peruse them occasionally.  But, LOL, on the bozo smug know-it-all there!  Hence, my shying from FB bs.

[CPK]

A beautiful coin Phil, congratulations!

[Alegandron]

I do have a couple Quinarii for the Imperatorial time, but nuttin' to write home about:

RImp Marc Antony AR Quin Concordia Clasped Hands Caduceus Cr 529-4b

 

RImp Marc Antony & Octavian AR Quinarius 1.58g Military Mint Gaul 39BCE Concordia r Hands clasped caduceus  Cr-529-4b Sear 1575 Syd-1195

 

RImp Marc Antony 43 BCE AR Quinarius 13mm 1.67g Lugdunum Winged bust Victory-probly Fulvia Lion DVNI LVGV Cr 489-5 Syd 1160

 

RImp Lepidus Marc Antony 43 BC AR quinarius 13.9m 1.82g Military mint TransAl Gaul pontificate Cr 489-3 Syd 1158a RSC 3 R

 

RImp Octavian AR Quinarius 29-28 BCE Asia Recepta Victory Cisto Snakes S 1568

[AncientJoe]

Thanks for the shout-out and compliments, Phil, and congrats on an exceptionally rare purchase! Across the whopping six 480/23s in CoinArchives, I much prefer yours and certainly understand why you've waited to add one given the slim pickings.

(I had to laugh at this one - https://pro.coinarchives.com/a/lotviewer.php?LotID=510558&AucID=913&Lot=461 - someone really aggressively doubted its metal in antiquity!)

Edited May 28 by AncientJoe

[David Atherton]

9 hours ago, Phil Davis said:

As @AncientJoe recently reminded us in his discussion of his wonderful new Galba sestertius (perhaps THE finest Galba sestertius in existence, but I digress!), sometimes it's still possible--even today when it seems all the best ancient coins appear at public auction--to acquire truly special things via private treaty. The coin I'm showing here isn't quite at that level, lol, but it's special enough in its own way. This is a very rare late quinarius struck in 44 BC by the moneyer M. Mettius, better known for striking Caesar portraits in the same year. The specs are:

Crawford 480/23, 15mm x 12mm, 1.52g. 

Obverse: Head of Juno Sospita r.; , coiled snake behind.

Reverse: Victory in prancing biga r., holding reins and whip; in exergue, M·METTI.

I was pleased when a friend--a serious collector and part-time dealer--offered this to me privately after expertly cleaning it. I was aware of it already; the previous owner had posted it on a Facebook ancient coin group (some members of this forum no doubt saw the same post), seeking help in identifying it. One know-it-all there smugly described it as a common denarius in bad condition, worth maybe $50, but others of us recognized what it really is. There are quite a few types of these late fractions, all of them genuinely rare and almost universally in dreadful shape, poorly struck and, especially, badly corroded from contact with the soil. Presumably, these quinarii and sestertii weren't hoarded much and most or all are single finds. I'm not aware of an explanation of why so many moneyers near the end of the Republic revived these fractional denominations, for the most part in abeyance for many decades. M. Mettius for instance also struck an excessively rare sestertius, Crawford 480/28 (precisely zero examples on Coin Archives.) This is literally the first example of any of these types I've added to my collection; it's just too painful to look at most of the few surviving examples, no matter how rare they are. This is really quite remarkably nice, although the largely missing legend on the reverse is a pity.

 

Nicely done!

The FB story reminds me of an unoffical rule on Forvm's Discussion Board: If you don't know enough to comment, don't! A rule I sadly see broken more often than not.

[Phil Davis]

I know which one you mean Joe without even clicking the link! Ironically,  the metal quality on that one is better than most.