Post it and pick it!

[ambr0zie]

29,3 mm, 8,62 g.
Tiberius 14-37 AD. Ӕ as. Rome. 22-30 AD.
DIVVS AVGVSTVS PATER, head of Augustus, radiate, left / PROVIDENT S C, Altar-enclosure with double paneled door right; various ornaments on top, left and right.
RIC I (second edition) Tiberius 81.

 

Next - a coin with a reverse that doesn't show humans or animals or deities. 

[Phil Anthos]

Taras, Calabria

385-380 BC. AR Obol (9mm, 0.48g). O: Head of nymph Satyra right. R: Three crescents facing outward around central pellet. D'Andrea XXII, 405; Vlasto ----; HN Italy 924v (head left) Very Rare ex Savoca Coins Next: fighting scene

[DonnaML]

I have several Roman Republican coins with fighting scenes, and here's one, notable for Chubby Mars on the obverse:

Roman Republic, Q. Thermus M.f., AR Denarius 103 BCE. Obv. Head of Mars left with crested, plumed helmet/ Rev. Roman soldier advancing right, fighting with uplifted sword a barbarian soldier (with round shield) before him, while protecting with his oval shield a fallen comrade at his feet, Q THERM.MF. in exergue (THE and MF in monograms). RSC I Minucia [Q. Minucius Rufus] 19 (ill.), Crawford 319/1, Sear RCV I 198 (ill.), BMCRR Italy 653. 19.4 mm., 3.97 g.

Next, another combat scene.

[jdmKY]

C. Numonius Vaala, 41 BC, denarius

 

NEXT: Bestiarii or gladiators

[jdmKY]

19 hours!!! OMG - I killed the thread.

[Ryro]

ROMAN REPUBLIC

AR Denarius. Rome mint, 42 BC. Crawford 494/30; RBW 1735; Sydenham 1112. O: Bare head of the praetor L. Livineius Regulus to right. R: L•REGVLVS, Bestiarius standing left, spearing lion; behind, another bestiarius standing right, spearing panther; to left, wounded bear sitting right.

Next: an RR that once you saw the type you needed to have

[AETHER]

Recent buy..

JULIUS CAESAR (100-44 BC) - DENAR - MILITARY MINT travelling with Caesar - Italy 49/48 BC (Pharsalos 48 BC) ELEPHANT trampling Carnyx? or Snake?- FOUR PRIESTLY emblems - double strike 
 

Ex Frank S Robinson

Ex NeroNumi

Ex @CPK

 

Next;  More RR related to JC

[ambr0zie]

17 mm, 3,35 g.
Mn. Cordius Rufus. AR denarius. Rome. 46 BC.
Corinthian helmet with crest on which an owl stands; RVFVS left / The aegis of Minerva with head of Medusa in the centre; MN CORDIVS around.
Crawford 463/2; Sydenham 978; Cordia 4; BMC 4042.

 

This type is ascribed to Mn. Cordius Rufus, monetal triumvir under Julius Caesar, before or after the dictatorship. The owl refers to Caesar’s prudence and wisdom; the warlike helmet and the aegis to his valour.

 

Next - owl, but not from Athens

[expat]

DOMITIAN (92 AD). Denarius. Rome.
Obv: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P XI.
Laureate head right.
Rev: IMP XXI COS XVI CENS P P P.
Minerva advancing right on rostral column, with chlamys blowing backwards, brandishing spear and holding shield; to right, owl standing left, head facing.
RIC² 730,  RSC 274. Weight: 3.23 g. Diameter: 19 mm.

NEXT: Domitian without Minerva

[Ryro]

Next: helmet

[DonnaML]

Helmet:

Roman Republic, C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius, AR Denarius 125 BCE. Obv. Head of Roma right wearing winged Phrygian helmet with crest in form of head and beak of eagle (i.e, depicting a griffin, together with wing); behind, ROMA downwards; before, mark of value * (= XVI) [off flan] / Rev. Jupiter, crowned with wreath by flying Victory above, in biga of elephants left, holding thunderbolt in left hand and reins in right hand; in exergue, C•METELLVS (ME ligate). 17 mm., 3.90 g. Crawford 269/1, BMCRR I 1180-1182 (& Vol. III Pl. xxx 8), RSC I Caecilia 14, Sear RCV I 145. Purchased from Dix Noonan Webb Auction 253, 13 April 2022, Lot 1247; ex Spink Numismatic Circular Dec. 1985, No. 8404 at p. 334.* [Footnote omitted.]

Next, another biga (or quadriga) drawn by non-equine animals or mythical creatures.

Edited January 19 by DonnaML

[Roman Collector]

C. Renius, 138 BC.
Roman AR denarius, 3.84 g, 16.3 mm, 1 h.
Rome, 138 BC.
Obv: Helmeted head of Roma, right; X behind.
Rev: Juno in a biga of goats, right, wearing diadem and holding scepter and reins in left hand and whip in right hand; C·RENI below; ROMA in exergue.
Refs: Crawford (RRC) 231/1; RSC Renia 1; Sydenham (CRR) 432; Sear (RCV) 108.

Next: Goat(s). 

[expat]

Same goats as previous

AR denarius (3,87 g. 17 mm.). Rome, 138 B.C. C Renius
Head of Roma right, wearing winged helmet and 5 drop earring; behind, X designating value/
C•RENI below, ROMA in exergue, Juno Caprotina, holding crook, reins and scepter, driving biga of goats right.
Crawford 231/1; Sydenham 432; Renia 1.

NEXT: More animal reverses, NOT HORSES

[Furryfrog02]

Hadrian
AE17
Ephesos, Ionia
Obverse: AΔΡIANOC KAICAΡ , laureate head right
Reverse: EΦECIΩN, Artemis in biga of stags right, holding torch

 

Next: More stags but NOT Gallienus or Salonina

[DonnaML]

More stags! Next: crescent moon.

Roman Republic, Anonymous, AR Denarius 143 BCE. Obv. Head of Roma right, wearing winged helmet ornamented with stylized representation of gryphon’s head, and earring of pellets in form of bunch of grapes; behind, X [mark of value, 10 asses, issued before re-tariffing of denomination to 16 asses ca. 141 BCE] / Rev. Diana, with quiver slung on her shoulder, in biga of stags galloping right; holding torch in right hand and reins in left; below stags, a crescent moon; in exergue, ROMA. Crawford 222/1; RSC I Anonymous 101 (ill. p. 8); BMCRR I 895; Sear RCV I 98 (ill. p. 92); Yarrow p. 42 (ill. fig. 1.36) [Liv Mariah Yarrow, The Roman Republic to 49 BCE: Using Coins as Sources (2021)]; RBW Collection 946 (ill. p. 199). 18 mm., 4.13 gr. Purchased from cgb.fr., 13 Feb. 2023.*

 

*As Crawford notes, “the biga of stags and crescent are presumably present as the attributes of Diana.” Vol. I p. 260. See also BMCRR I p. 123 n. 3, referring to the crescent moon as “the symbol of Diana,” even though the crescent is associated  with Luna (the Greek Selene) as much as with Diana on Roman Republican coinage (see, e.g., Crawford 426/1 [Diana & crescent]; Crawford 480/26 [Luna & crescent]) -- including when it accompanies a goddess driving a biga,  for example on Crawford 303/1 (the denarius of M. Aquillius showing Luna in a biga with crescent above). As John Melville Jones notes in A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby 1990), in the entry for “Diana” at p. 197, it “is sometimes impossible to make any clear distinction between this goddess and Luna.” See also Crawford Vol. II at pp. 720-721 and n. 6, discussing a series of denarii introduced in the early 2nd century BCE with reverses depicting a goddess in a biga (beginning with Crawford 133), for all of which he identifies the deity as Luna rather than Diana: "It is not possible to distinguish firmly between Luna and Diana; I adopt the designation Luna here without total conviction; but in the coinage of Julia Domna, where Luna and Diana are explicitly identified, Luna bears a crescent on her head, Diana does not."

On this coin, however, the presence of the quiver on the goddess’s back, along with the torch and the stags, should confirm that a representation of Diana was intended (see Jones, op. cit., re Diana Venatrix [“Huntress”] and Diana Lucifera [“Light-bearer”]). See Harlan, RRM I [Michael Harlan, Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins, 81 BCE-64 BCE (2012)], Ch. 19 at p. 115: “The earliest appearance [of Diana driving a biga of stags] was an anonymous issue dated to about 143 [i.e., this type]. Although the deity in the biga holds a torch in her right hand rather than a bow, she is clearly identified as Diana by the quiver over her shoulder”; Harlan also cites the crescent moon as proof of the identification even though that could signify Luna as well. 

The most interesting aspect of this issue, apart from the attractive reverse design, is the very fact of its being anonymous. See Sear RCV I p. 92, pointing out that the “occurrence of an anonymous issue at this late date is exceptional and surprising.” Indeed, this type appears to be one of only two anonymous denarii issued after the early 150s BCE (not counting Crawford 262/1, universally ascribed to one of the Caecilii Metelli) – the other being Crawford 287/1, with Roma on the obverse and a reverse depicting Roma seated on pile of shields before wolf & twins with two birds above.

As long ago as 1852, the French numismatist and antiquarian Adrien Prévost de Longpérier published an article -- which I was able to find online, with some difficulty, so I could read what he said first-hand -- in which he listed a number of Republican denarii for which the design, in whole or in part, was a visual pun alluding to the moneyer’s name or family or a particular location. Referring to a denarius issued by L. Axsius L.F. Naso (Crawford 400/1a-b, RSC I Axia 1-2 [type dated to 71 BCE]), the article suggested that the reverse design, also depicting Diana in a biga of stags (a species of which was known in Latin as “axes”) was an allusion to the name of the Axia gens. See A. de Longpérier, “Interprétation du type figuré sur les deniers de la famille Hosidia” in Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de France, t. xxi (1852), at p. 357 (article reprinted in an 1883 collection of the author’s works, available at https://ia902705.us.archive.org/27/items/oeuvres01velagoog/oeuvres01velagoog.pdf; see p. 289). 

Here is an example of Crawford 400/1a from acsearch, sold by NAC in 2012 (not my coin):

In 1910, in BMCRR I p. 133 n. 3, Grueber cited Longpérier’s article in arguing with respect to my anonymous type (Crawford 222/BMCRR I 895) – even though it was issued many decades earlier than Crawford 400/1a-b and does not bear a moneyer’s name – that it is “very probable” that the similar design of Diana in a biga of stags on the anonymous type also constituted “a direct allusion to the name of the Axia gens.” See also BMCRR I 3348, pp. 409-410 n. 3 (making the same argument concerning the significance of the reverse of Crawford 400/1a-b). See RSC I Axia 1-2, p. 19 (“The stags [on Crawford 400/1a-b] (cervi axes) may be a punning allusion to the family name”). Yarrow illustrates Crawford 222/1 at p. 42 fig. 1.36, and notes the similar reverse design of Crawford 400/1a-b, but makes no reference to the axes/Axius theory for either type.

Crawford completely rejects the theory, with respect to both Crawford 222/1 (my type) and Crawford 400/1a-b. Thus, he states with respect to my anonymous type that “the recurrence of the type on no. 400/1a-b provides no adequate evidence for the attribution of this issue to a moneyer of the gens Axia” (Crawford Vol. I p. 260, citing a 1913 Kubitschek article as contra). And, even with respect to Crawford 400/1a-b, he asserts that “the axes attested by Pliny [citation omitted], natives of India, are of no conceivable relevance to the reverse type, despite the superficial similarity between their name and that of the moneyer” (Crawford Vol. I p. 412, citing the 1852 Longpérier article and an 1878 article by A. Klugmann as contra).

Unfortunately, Crawford provides no elaboration of the reasons – philological, historical, or otherwise – for his adamant rejection of any connection between “axes” and “Axius.” And I certainly don’t know whether “axes” was a sufficiently common or well-known term in Rome – either in 143 BCE or 71 BCE – for a kind of stag or male deer (for which I believe cervus was the general term) that such an allusion would have been widely recognized. Harlan, however, does elaborate on his reasoning in strongly agreeing with Crawford. In his chapter on Crawford 400/1a-b, he states:  “Longpérier interpreted the coin’s reverse design depicting Diana driving a biga of stags to be a punning allusion to the family name Axia, citing Pliny’s mention [in Naturalis Historia] of a strange animal found in India called axis, which had the hide of a fawn, but with more spots and whiter in color. This suggestion was frequently repeated in catalogs. Pliny, however, specifically said that the axis was sacred to Liber not Diana. Moreover, it is difficult to see how or why an Italian family would derive its name from an obscure and virtually unknown Indian animal. Crawford is surely right in saying the axis is ‘of no conceivable relevance to the reverse type.’” Harlan RRM I, pp. 114-115.  

If the obscure term for an Indian animal has no conceivable relevance to the reverse type on a named issue for which a member of the gens Axia is known to have been the moneyer, then it must be all the more irrelevant to my anonymous issue. A fortiori, as we lawyers like to say! Indeed, Harlan cites my anonymous issue, as well as the issue of C. Allius Bala from 92 BCE also depicting Diana in a biga of stags (Crawford 336/1b), in concluding that “these three similar appearances of Diana in a biga of stags by moneyers from three different families suggest that the type was more likely generic than a specific reference to the gens Axia.” Harlan RRM I, p. 115. Here's my example of Crawford 336/1b:

Thus, as intriguing as the Longpérier/Grueber theory may be, I have to agree with Crawford and Harlan that it seems highly unlikely. Sometimes Diana in a biga of stags is just Diana in a biga of stags. (To paraphrase Freud’s famous but entirely apocryphal remark.)

[ambr0zie]

11 mm, 0,49 g.
Lykaonia, Laranda. AR obol. Circa 324-323 BC. Baaltars seated left, holding grain ear, bunch of grapes, and scepter / Forepart of wolf right; crescent above; all within circle of pellets. Göktürk 82; SNG France 443 (uncertain Cilician mint); SNG Levante 225 (uncertain Cilician mint).

 

Next - wolf, but not she wolf and twins

[jdmKY]

Papius Celsus, denarius, 45 BC

She-wolf (without twins) and eagle

NEXT: Juno Sospita

 

[Roman Collector]

L. Roscius Fabiatus, 64 BCE.
Roman AR denarius serratus, 3.65 g, 17.5 mm, 5 h.
Rome, 64 BCE.
Obv: L•ROSCI below head of Juno Sospita, right, in goatskin headdress; sack and column behind.
Rev: Woman standing right, facing snake; sella symbol at left; FABATI in exergue.
Refs: Crawford RRC 412/1, table LXVIII-LXIX, 16; BMCRR 412.1.140; Sydenham CRR 915; RCV 363.

Next: serrate denarius. 

[expat]

NEXT: Triga

[Ryro]

over six so a quad will have to do:

Next: camel

[shanxi]

Trajan
AR-Denar
Obv.: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P, laureate bust right, drapery on far shoulder
Rev.: COS V P P SPQR OPTIMO PRINC, Arabia standing left, holding a branch and a bundle of cinnamon sticks; at her feet, a camel walking left
Ag, 3.44g, 17.5mm
Ref.: RIC 142, RSC 89

 

Next: Arabia

[Ryro]

TRAJAN

98-117 AD. Æ Sestertius (27.50 gm). Struck circa 112-115 AD. Laureate bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder / ARAB ADQVIS in exergue, Arabia standing facing, head left, holding branch and bunch of cinnamon sticks?; to left, forepart of camel standing left. RIC II 614; Jan 2021 Elkowicz

 

Next up: green patina

[ambr0zie]

Another green patina and a great one on a Trajan bronze 

27 mm, 13,53 g.

Trajan 98-117 AD. Ӕ dupondius. Rome. 112-114 AD.

IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, bust of Trajan, radiate, draped, right / DACIA AVGVST PROVINCIA S C, Dacia, seated left on rock, holding aquila; in front of her on a second rock a child holding grapes; at her side a child holding grain stalks

RIC II 623a; Woytek 468b; BMCRE 990d; Cohen 127.

Next - another Trajan bronze 

[Qcumbor]

32 minutes ago, ambr0zie said:

Next - another Trajan bronze 

Trajan, Bronze - Laodicea ad Mare, c114-115 CE
ΑΥΤΟΚΡ ΝΕΡ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟϹ ΑΡΙϹΤ ΚΑΙϹ ϹΕΒ ΓΕΡ ΔΑΚ ΠΑΡ, laureate head of Trajan right with drapery on left shoulder
ΙΟΥΛΙΕⲰΝ ΤⲰΝ ΚΑΙ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕⲰΝ ΒΞΡ, Turreted bust of Tyche right, IOY in right field
9.97 gr
Ref : RPC vol III # 3796, Sear #1080

Next another Trajan provincial

Q

[ambr0zie]

24 mm, 10,98 g.
Syria, Seleucia Pieria, Antioch. Trajan 98-117. AR tridrachm. 100 AD.
AVTOKP KAIC NEP TPAIANOC CEB ΓEPM, laureate head right / ΔΗMAPX EΞ YΠAT Γ, Roma seated left on pile of arms, holding Nike on her extended right hand, parazonium in left leaning on round shield.
RPC III 3578; S 179 (Caesarea); McAlee 478, Ganschow X11a.

Next - another TRIdrachm, or as an alternative, a DIdrachm