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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 

Exceedingly Rare L. Piso Frugi Denarius with Head Left

408, Lot: 415. Estimate $500.
Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi. 90 BC. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.88 g, 2h). Rome mint. Laureate head of Apollo left; Є below chin / Horseman galloping right, holding palm frond and reins; jug (or basket) above; L•PISO FRVGI/ROMA in two lines below. Crawford 340/1a; Sydenham 657; Kestner –; BMCRR Rome p. 256 note; Calpurnia 12d; CNR 36/1; cf. RBW 1253. VF, toned, obverse struck slightly off center. Exceedingly rare.


From the Andrew McCabe Collection. Ex Naville Numismatics 17 (20 September 2015), lot 416.

The head left variety of L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi is of the highest rarity. Four examples are known of the type with the horseman holding a whip, and nine are known of the horseman holding palm branch (this type), almost all are in museum collections. Roberto Russo in NAC 54 (2010), lot 200 wrote a comprehensive note to these types, listing each of the 13 known specimens. In a conversation with Roberto Russo, he explained that in his view the head left varieties, which are all of fine style and have the complete legend ROMA, are the earliest varieties of the L. Piso Frvgi issue. The symbol on this coin is supposedly a stirrup and Russo cites seven examples: 1) Paris 6254; 2) Paris 6255; 3) Turin; 4) Bignami; 5) Gotha; 6) Vidal Quadras y Ramon; 7) Private collection (being this coin). Russo also commented that “As for the stirrup, out of respect for learned scholars, we have interpreted thus this symbol, but we would like to humbly point out that this accessory to smoother riding was introduced in Europe only in the eight century AD.” Close examination of the symbol on this coin shows basketweave sides and what are clearly handles on either side, so perhaps this is a jug with decorative sides, or a basket with a narrow top. Exceedingly rare and missing from most collections. The only prior example offered by CNG was in Triton XV (2012), lot 1468, a double-die match for this coin; the rarity of the type was not made clear in its description. [Andrew McCabe]