The less than amusing Muse, Clio: Muse of History

[Ryro]

The Muses- a super foxy group of goddesses assembled by Apollo to inspire mortals in the arts. Think, Charlie's Angels, only with less explosions and more inspiration:

Cut to, my latest proposal to Hollywood, Apollo's Muses; these ladies will take you to new levels of of inspiration and pain!

Over the weekend I was able to acquire my 4th Muse! The Muse of History, Clio:

Q. Pomponius Musa, Rome, 56 BC. AR Denarius (17,2mm, 3,8g). Laureate head of Apollo right; volumen to left. R/ Clio, the Muse of History, standing left, holding and reading from an open scroll, resting left elbow on draped column. Crawford 410/3; Sydenham 813; Pomponia 11; RBW 1485. Good VF. Rare.

Cleo was Muse of history and lyre playing. Her name meaning, to make famous, or proclaimer:

It's a very disappointing collecting niche and I'm only posting this so that you know NOT TO COLLECT THE MUSES. 

My other Muses:

Q POMPONIUS MUSA. AR, Denarius, 56 BC. Rome.

Obv: Laureate head of Apollo right; two crossed tibiae to left.

Rev: MVSA / Q POMPONI.

Euterpe (Muse of Music and Lyric Poetry) standing right, resting on column, holding two flutes.

Crawford 410/5.

Condition: VF.

Weight: 3.62 g.

Diameter: 17.45 mm.

Q. POMPONIUS MUSA

Denarius (56 BC). Rome.

Obv: Laureate head of Apollo right; star to left.

Rev: Q POMPONI / MVSA.

Urania standing left, holding wand and touching globe set upon base.

Crawford 410/8.

Fine. 3.24 g. 18 mm.

Purchased from Numismatik Naumann May 2023

Q. POMPONIUS MUSA. Fourrée denarius (56 BC). Rome.

Obv: Laureate head of Apollo right; sceptre to left.

Rev: Q POMPONI MVSA.

Melpomene standing left, wearing sword and holding club and mask.Cf. Crawford 410/4 (for prototype). Fine.2.95 g, 17 mm. Numismatik Naumann Feb 2021

 

Thanks for taking a look. Please post your coins of the Muses, Apollo, RRs, or anything that inspires you!

Edited August 29 by Ryro

[Roman Collector]

Those Muses denarii of Pomponius Musa are very tough for a collector of modest means to acquire. I admire your foolhardiness gumption. The closest thing I have to Charlie's Angels is the Three Graces!

Julia Domna, 193-217 CE.
Roman provincial Æ triassarion, 23.3 mm 8.55 g.
Moesia Inferior, Marcianopolis,  193-211 CE.
Obv: ΙΟVΛΙΑ ΔΟ-ΜΝΑ CΕΒ, bare-headed and draped bust right.
Rev: ΜΑΡΚΙΑΝΟΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ, statuary group of the Three Graces side by side, the center Grace from the reverse with arms extended around the shoulders of her companions who are both facing frontward.
Refs: SGI 2313; AMNG I 603; Moushmov 417; Hristova & Jekov 6.17.26.2; Staal p. 107, 15.1.1
Notes: Obverse and reverse die match to Hristova & Jekov 6.17.26.2.

I do have a fair number of Apollo-themed coins. Here's a favorite.

Gordian III, 238-244 CE.
Roman AE Sestertius, 20.01 gm; 28.2 mm.
Rome, 5th officina. 9th emission, 241 CE.
Obv: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: PM TRP IIII COS II PP SC, Apollo seated left, holding laurel branch and resting left arm on lyre.
Refs: RIC 302; Cohen 252; RCV --; Banti 72.

[Curtisimo]

Nice collection of Muses @Ryro. I have no coin to contribute but this thread reminded me of an interesting Muse statue at the Ghetty Villa, either Erato, the Muse of love poetry, or Terpsichore, the Muse of dance.

The reason that this statue stuck in my memory is that it still retains remnants of its paint. I am one of the few who think the original painted statues would have been attractive. I think the garish reproductions you see showing what the statues would have looked like in color would have been way off the mark. The ancient masters were just as adept at painting as sculpting.

[greeleo]

Amazing collection! The muses are absolutely my favorite set of coins in all of numismatic history. Best of luck collecting the rest. 

[Alegandron]

I kept searching for my POMPONIUS but it is a Pomponius MOLO not Musa...  Bummer, but I DO like my Pompon denarius as much as I like your denarius, @Ryro...

Mine is not a Muse, but it is killing a GOAT!

RR AR Denarius 3.88g L Pomponius Molo 97 BCE Rome Apollo Numa Pompilius stdng Lituus alter sacrifice goat Cr 334-1 Syd 607 NUMA

[akeady]

I more or less completed my amusing collection in 2022, subect to upgrades and a few legend variations and the rare Erato:

This was an addition bought since the photo' (Cr. 410/2b, the photo' above has Cr. 410/2a):

Keep going 😄

ATB,
Aidan.

[ominus1]

....very '   'amusing' :P....but i came thinking you got beat out on a coin...^^

Edited August 30 by ominus1

[expat]

Very interesting sub-collection, enjoyed seeing those. I only have Apollo to offer and a band with an appropriate name.

[Ryro]

Thanks for the kind words, great posts and examples!

19 hours ago, Roman Collector said:

Those Muses denarii of Pomponius Musa are very tough for a collector of modest means to acquire. I admire your foolhardiness gumption.

Says the guy collecting every Faustina l and ll 😜! Though, you were right the first time. It sure was foolhardy. But I can't stop now

And thanks @Curtisimo. And good use of the word garish. I agree that the modern idea of how they would've looked painted is off base. At least with the Greeks. I'm sure the less artistically minded Romans had some pretty silly looking reproductions that they thought looked just swell after campaigning for 20 years. 

And thanks @greeleo! Do you have any to share? We'd love to see them. 

Cool RR @Alegandron! I hope the  auspices were favorable. 

Incredible examples @akeady! Man, you even have the tenth Muse coin of Apollo!!! Color me green with envy.

Oh boy, so Erato is the rarity of the group? Good to know. 

Lol @ominus1! That was the first thing I thought ofwhen I saw the coin up for sale. Thankfully I've never big against that juggernaut!

@expat thank you! Nice reverse on that Gallienus! And ha! I used super black hole as the song door my post when I won my last Muse!

[akeady]

1 hour ago, Ryro said:

<snip>

Oh boy, so Erato is the rarity of the group? Good to know. 

 

Well... if you follow Crawford (or Grueber or Sydenham), then yes, Erato (on Cr. 410/6) is very rare, but it's very likely that the major references from Grueber to Crawford have it wrong - they assign two obverse symbols and two different types of lyre to Terpsichore, which is inconsistent with the rest of the series.   The difference between Cr. 410/6 (Erato in Crawford) and Cr. 410/7d (Terpsichore in Crawford) is the position of the arm of the nymph on the reverse.

The other subtypes of Cr. 410/7 - a-c - all have tortoises on the obverse and one type of lyre on the reverse.   Cr. 410/6 and Cr. 410/7d have flowers (or plectrums?) on the obverse and another type of lyre.

Our colleague Phil Davis pointed this out a few years back:

https://www.academia.edu/19428330/Erato_or_Terpsichore_A_Reassessment

By this assessment, this is Erato (Cr. 410/7d):

By comparison, Cr. 410/6 (BM example, not mine):

The nymph on the reverse is plucking the lyre, that's the only real difference.

This is Terpsichore (Cr. 410/7a):

The latter at least is in need of an upgrade!

Erato has a flower on stalk as a symbol and Terpsichore a tortoise.

So - stick with one symbol per nymph and one reverse per nymph and logically Cr. 410/6 and 410/7d belong together and Cr. 410/7d should be catalogued as Cr. 410/6b rather than a variety of 410/7.

TLDR - read Phil's paper and accept that 410/7d is Erato and you'll finish your collection much more cheaply than looking for 410/6!

ATB,
Aidan.

Edited August 30 by akeady

[TIF]

3 hours ago, Ryro said:

Thankfully I've never big against that juggernaut!

I kinda miss those days when CNG showed bidder names.  In some instances it let me know when bidding would be pointless or if a friend was bidding, allowing me to redirect my efforts elsewhere.  Probably better for the auction house to keep that info hidden.

I used to tally the number of Clio wins at the end of CNG auctions (astonishing quantities), as well as the number of coins I lost to him.  Good times 🤣.  Once I tried an experiment, hoping Clio would have mercy and let me win one-- it was something I suspected he would bid on (not a difficult bet to win given how many coins he hoovered up).  Anyway, I did win the lot and for considerably less than other Robert Ready electrotypes so it seems the ploy worked, or perhaps it also worked on bidders other than Clio who may have found my plan funny enough to allow me a shot.  I didn't dare try it again, figuring it was a one-time kindness.  Perhaps I should have picked a more important target but I did really want this particular electrotype :D.

For those who didn't bid in CNG's pre-anonymization days, you could change your bidder name any time you wanted.  You could even change mid-auction!  I used to bid in the final 10 seconds or less but Clio somehow always bid in the final second... or less.  You never even knew he'd pulled the rug out from under you until refreshing the screen and seeing the dreaded name.  This time I changed my handle and bid hours early in the hope that it would be seen:

 

CNG numismatist Bill Dalzell said he daydreamed about changing his bidder handle to "LOT WITHDRAWN" but figures it would have gotten him fired.  GREAT idea though 🤣

 

 

Edited August 31 by TIF

[Sulla80]

4 muses! congrats @Ryro - here's my only coin from this series: Erato holding an unmistakable flat-bottom kithara.

Edited August 31 by Sulla80

[Alegandron]

46 minutes ago, Sulla80 said:

flat-bottom kithara.

Flat-bottom kitharas make the Rockin' World Go Round! 😄

 

 

Edited August 31 by Alegandron