Category: Uncategorized

This is not the Papius specimen or control-mark I’m supposed to be thinking about this very moment, but I don’t want to lose this thought:

The cataloger for MZ 194 describes the reverse control mark as crossed shields and a helmet and thus as attributes of the Salii, armed priests who dance for Mars. This seems plausible but not certain. I’d like to see more crossed shields. I’m also interested if this is the cataloger’s original proposal or if it has been proposed else where. Other possibly Salii related images on the Blog.

RRC 384/1

My working hypothesis is that the imitation was made from casting a (relatively) well preserved specimen and then cleaning up that mold before using it for making imitations. Hubbing is also possible, but less likely.

Obverse:

• The set of the eye is wrong, esp. the upper lid
• There is too little detail in the hair
• Lack of spiral on the helmet

Reverse:

• The shape of the upper portion of the rear far leg is wrong
• The fourth teat has been removed
• There is too much fur on the underside of the raised front leg
• There is too much fur in spikes beneath the tail
• The hair at the neck has a different pattern

Fabric:

• Funny Patina
• Flan is much larger than most used for this series, allowing more detail than typical
• Combination of soapy indistinct features suggesting wear and then very legible feature elsewhere (contrast letters and border dots).

Should the Kelsey de-accession this piece? Absolutely not.

It remains a key historical artifact; it just requires we ask different questions.. It came into the collection in a well documented fashion in the late 19th century (more on that history of the collection another time). Given that it is (near) replica of a likely genuine specimen it gives us evidence of that specimen’s existence. It also can teach us about the historical trade, manufacture, and marketing of fakes. I’m particularly interested in the metallurgy that produced this patina and whether it is distinctive enough to confirm other imitations where die comparison is inconclusive.

In this case I suspect the earnest buyer who was selecting specimens for the university while in Florence in the 1880s was an easy mark, as non-expert, with a very particular goal: selecting specimens to educate the young men of Ann Arbor.

And, in its own way it is beautiful, in fact too beautiful.

RRC 388/1b

We all know emperors on Roman coins are laureate. Why? What does it mean?

I’m trying to consider the republican evidence

These are all the individual types counted. A bad graph. It makes no difference of change over time and does not take into account differences between silver and the much more conservative bronze. Also Crawford’s numerous sub types can inflate representation.

In this next Graph I removed all bronze and planned to restrict coin types to those at 146 BCE, but there are no silver or gold issues with laureate heads between 170 BCE and 119 BCE.

But I still want better data visualization. This doesn’t say anything very meaningful.

This next graph below is hard to read at this scale. But it does a better job of showing change over time. Traditional senior male gods are laureate through out the period and going back to the very start of the republic. Neptune gets to be laureate when he appears, unsurprising giving his divine status. Things only get interesting with the introduction of the laureate Venus in the mid 50s to represent Pompey’s Venus Victrix. After this minor gods or divine personification are made laureate on specific issues for reasons we may not fully understand. Caesar is only laureate after death and we should probably take it as a Roman symbol of his divine status. None of the many other living Romans who put their own portraits on the coins are depicted laureate, nor are their ancestors.

Anyway. Not earth shattering but there it is. Post Actium the future Augustus shows up on the coins laureate… I sure someone has written about that. Just wanted to see how the run up shook out.

This is available for FREE OPEN ACCESS DOWN LOAD!

It has 1015 illustrations in FULL COLOR.

This tweet thread on RRC 205 generated good conversation and supplementary images. I’m archiving on the blog to ensure I can find it when I next go looking.

This is a close up of the AS of Sulla's ancestor (c.151 BCE) showing a goddess in the prow stem. While one specimen doesn't define a type this one is extra clear … 1/ https://t.co/JTvZdQTU1c pic.twitter.com/ndv75UMBbL

— Liv "pronounced Leev" Mariah Yarrow 💉😷 (@profyarrow) November 9, 2021

Perhaps to me the most interesting is this fitting said to be from the area of Actium in the British Museum. It measures Height: 47.50 centimetres Length: 58.42 centimetres Width: 44.45 centimetres.

The other key observation on twitter is that there are more decorated prow stems on the Roman Republican Bronzes than have been noted in the major catalogues, a point well made by Michael Davis ( @Michael24441229)

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I’ve been very focused in the pre 49 BCE period. This is likely to change as my research evolves over the next few years, but I realize that I am so much less familiar with coins after that date. Even ones I ‘know’ I’ve just spent less time thinking about.

This might be completely obvious but prior to today I saw a hodge-podge of symbols on this reverse rather than a programmatic message. My blind spot was the axe. If I thought about it at all I thought it was a priestly axe as those show up on other Caesarean coins. It doesn’t look much like those priestly ones though. Instead, I now read it as the axe that has been removed from the fasces. It seems so obvious that I assume others have seen this before.

Caesar in his role as perpetual dictator has brought peace and harmony (caduceus and clasped hands) to the world (orb)–or at least an end to conflict, if I was being snarky. Civil order has been restored (fasces) and thus military authority (axe) is no longer necessary.

The reading of the clasped hands on this specific coin is discussed Cornwall 2017, 65 no. 53.

Of course I’ve been thinking about it more since discovering this Cavino specimen in Glasgow, which takes its inspiration from the denarius but associates the imagery with the events of 56 BCE and the conference at Luca:

Some comparative iconography of fasces and axes

from the Fabatus Series (RRC 412/1)

Gallica Link

I’ve been saying I’ll publish this paper for ages. Maybe I will but no time soon based on the length of my to do list. So I’m going to add it to my blog here just so that it is available. Perhaps it will generate comment.

I’m checking some stuff for RRDP and thus finding lots of RR bibliography I might want to check out down the road.

M. Iunius Brutus : triumvir monetalis e quaestor. by Peppe, Leo. In: Istituto Italiano di Numismatica. Annali Vol. 43, 1996, p. 47-64.

Lucio Giunio Bruto : ricerche di storia, religione e diritto sulle origini della repubblica romana. by Mastrocinque, Attilio. Trento : Edizioni La Reclame, 1988

Muttonis Mutunus: Q. Titius and the Case of the Obverse Head /by Katz, Rebecca. In: International Congress of Numismatics XV International Numismatic Congress Taormina 2015 Proceedings p.671-675

The ‘bead and reel’ denarius of C. Vibius Pansa / Bruce R. Brace. In: Aureus Investments (Spring, 1988), p. 2-6, CF. The ‘bead and reel’ denarius of C. Vibius Pansa : again / Bruce R. Brace. In: Canadian Numismatic Journal Vol. 34, no. 4 (Apr., 1989), p. 131

Un interessante quinario di M. Porcius Cato (92 a.C. circa). by Spagni, Lopez. In: Noi con la lente anno 5, n. 3 (magg.-giugno 1993), p. 13-14

Les symboles sur les monnaies de M. Papirius Carbo et de L. Titurius Sabinus. by Vercoutre, A. [1893]

Un curioso denario di Lucio Titurio Sabino. by Spagni, Lopez. In: Bollettino Numismatico v. 9, no. 4 (Sept. 1972), p. 6-8

Le figurazioni degli assi di C. Marcius Censorinus. by Bartoccini, Renato. In: Il Gazzettino Numismatico v. 4, no. 1 (Feb. 1975), p. 46-52

La monetazione di L. Rubrius Dossenus / Patrizia Calabria. In: Rivista Italiana di Numismatica (Italy) Vol. 94 (1992), p. [65]-85

Quand Ogulnius frappa le quadrigat… / Mathieu Debaes. In: Liber amicorum Tony Hackens Louvain-la-Neuve : Association de numismatique professeur Marcel Hoc, c2007. p.179-191

A propos d’un as de C. Licinius Macer et de la répartition des attributions entre les triumvirs monétaires sous la République. by Thiry, Jean-Claude. In: Cercle d’études numismatiques. Bulletin Vol. 25, no. 1 (janv.-marc 1988), p. 1-6

Die Asse des C. Licinius Macer / Andreas Alföldi. In: Schweizer Münzblätter No. 92 (Nov., 1973), p. 117-119

Dio Cassius og numismatickken. by Kromann, Anne. In: Nordisk Numismatisk Unions Medlemsblad No. 4 (Aug., 1978), p. 65-69

Les deniers triomphaux de C. Valerius Flaccus. by Laffranchi, Lodovico. In: Demareteion I (1935), pp. 117-123

Les deniers de C. Valerius Flaccus frappés à Marseille et les dernières émissions de drachmes massaliotes / Andreas Alföldi. In: Revue Numismatique Ser. 6, Vol. 11 (1969), p. 55-61, pls. 6-13

L’aigle légionnaire sur les deniers frappés par Aulus Postumius et par Sextus Pompée. by Vercoutre, A. Verdun, 1897

Un portrait d’Aulus Postumius Albinus?. by Deonna, W. In: Actas y memorias de la sociedad española de antropologia, etnografia y prehistoria Madrid, 1947 v. 22, p. 5-13, 4 pls

Un ripostiglio di denari repubblicani da Albano / Giuseppina Ghini, Silvia Aglietti, Fiorenzo Catalli. by Ghini, Giuseppina; Aglietti, Silvia; Catalli, Fiorenzo. In: Rivista Italiana de Numismatica e Scienze Affini Vol. 109 (2008), p. 15-55 : ill., plan, photos ; 24 cm.

Der römische Münzmeister L. Rustius (1. Jh. v. Chr.) und seine Familie / Manfred Gutgesell In: Allgemeine Numismatik, Antike, Mittelalter, Neuzeit, Medaillen Bremen : Bremer Numismatische Gesellschaft, c1997 p.15-22

Nota su varianti inedite di denari repubblicani. I / by Armando Liati. Subject(s): Moneyers — Rome | Rome — Lucretius Trio, Cn In: Annotazioni Numismatiche Anno 5, Serie I (Marzo, 1995) Milan: Edizioni ennerres S.r.l.

Le denier de Lucius Farsuleius Mensor. by Vercoutre, A. Épinal, 1893

Das Bildnis des Konsuls Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus. by Lahusen, Götz. In: Archäologischer Anzeiger Heft 1 (1985), pp. [113]-117

L’emissione del prefetto di Caesar Q. Oppius (CRA 550/3a-c). by Martini, Rodolfo. In: Annotazioni Numismatiche 2 (giugno 1991), p. 25-27; cf. Note sull’emissione in oricalco di Q. Oppius (CRA 550/3a-c). by Veronelli, Giorgio. In: Annotazioni Numismatiche 1 (febbr. 1991), p. 12-14

The Coins of Clovius and Oppius (RRC 476/1 and 550/1-3): new Evidence from Find-spots / Marta Barbato In: The Numismatic Chronicle London : Taylor & Walton, 1838- vol.175, 2015, p.103-116