408, Lot: 383. Estimate $150. Sold for $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Anonymous. 208 BC. Æ Semuncia (12mm, 1.32 g, 1h). Staff and club series. Mint in Etruria(?). Draped bust of Mercury right, wearing winged petasus / Prow of galley right; ROMA above, staff running through superstructure; below, Σ (sideways). Crawford 106/10; Sydenham –; Type as RBW 490-1. Near VF, dark green and brown patina, flaking on edge.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection. Ex Goodman Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 45, 18 March 1998), lot 1270.

Exceedingly rare; the only published examples of this type are Vatican 6331 = RRC 106/10 cited as “unique”; Triton I, lot 954 (Goodman) = NAC 61, lot 485 (RBW); Triton I, lot 955 (Goodman) = NAC 61, lot 487 (RBW); and NAC 61, lot 486 (RBW). The latter three are each from different reverse dies, each showing different characteristics of the staff and club series. This coin is die-paired with NAC 61, lot 486. The economic utility of producing such a tiny coin is unclear! [Andrew McCabe]