Macer’s Uncia?!

“Central Italy, uncertain mint Æ Uncia. Local coinage in the late Roman Republic, circa 1st century BC. Bust of winged Eros to right, pellet (mark of value) behind / Eros standing to right before male figure (Pan?) seated to left on panther(?) raising his paw; MACER(sic) in exergue. Unpublished in the standard references, including C. Stannard, The Local Coinages of central Italy in the late Republic, Provisional catalogue 2007. 3.79g, 17mm, 3h.” – sales catalogue description

The obverse figure seems to have a Nodus, the central braid that starts with a poof at the forehead and then makes a ridge at the top of the head to the crown and down to the nap. I agree the figure looks like it has wings. The better identification might be Victory.

While most of the Victories with nodi hairstyles on the Republican series are thought to be portraits in the guise of important women (usually Fulvia; see below), arguably the first with a nodus was struck by P·SEPVLLIVS MACER in 44 BCE (RRC 480/25)

A mid 40s BCE date also fits the fashion for cupid

Now if you’re deep into the little ugly coins of this period you might say hey wait what about the sestertius of Paetus’ RRC 465/8 which is said to have cupid on the obverse. Is this Cupid?! maybe.

I don’t know but there are specimens with a less prominent nodus and more prominent wings

So maybe it is Cupid on that little uncia above, if this is cupid with nodus. Right now I should probably pull open my digitized copies of LIMC and check if Cupid ever gets this hair style in other media… Did that, nothing relevant under Eros and nothing under Cupid.

Here’s the portrait esque types I mentioned above.

Perhaps the most interesting question is if there is any chance that the small uncia is actually part of RRC 480. I’m not ready to claim that but I will entertain the possibility.

Must think more about what the cupids are doing on the reverse. We have lots of cupids doing stuff in mosaics from Pompeii in this general period. Numismatic examples of more than one cupid on the same design are rare. Thus far I’ve found just three tokens:

In provincial coinage we have these lovelies:

I don’t think RRC 320/1 counts in this same way.

Now my brain is bouncing back to the obverse and visual parallels. Let’s think about RRC 391/2

Definitely Cupid, Definitely a nodus. Certainly mid 70s and populist.

Ok questions: Did the nodus start out as a little boy hair style and then become a fashion trend for elite women?! I need to know more.

Let’s also remember that the only other scene with cupid as the main subject of the reverse on the republican series was on a quinarius of the Cinnan era (RRC 352/2)

AND of course there was another Macer who was a populist moneyer in the 80s… (RRC 354)

So where does this leave me and my brain dump?

Cupid seems populist. Maybe no surprise there but still fun. Also appropriate to small denominations. He’s small so there is a logic there. I still don’t know where we can fit the uncia into the Italic numismatic landscape. I think 40s more than 80s or 70s. Roman? Official? Maybe… just maybe…