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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 

Important Legionary Denarius Variety
Ex RBW Collection

411, Lot: 376. Estimate $200.
Sold for $575. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

The Triumvirs. Mark Antony. Autumn 32-spring 31 BC. AR Denarius (17mm, 3.67 g, 5h). Legionary issue. Patrae(?) mint. Praetorian galley right / Aquila between two signa; LEG VII across lower field. Crawford 544/20; CRI 357; Sydenham 1224; RSC 34; RBW 1842 (this coin). VF, attractive iridescent toning. Thick, compact flan.


From the Andrew McCabe Collection. Ex RBW Collection (Numismatica Ars Classica 63, 17 May 2012), lot 591 (purchased by RBW from Frank L. Kovacs, 29 April 1994).

This is an important and rare unpublished variety of the usual legionary type with a compact, very thick flan, and a small short galley in high relief, yet with an unusually prominent staff and flag that flutters across the upper field. The manufacture of the coin, which appears to be in excellent silver, is quite unlike that of the vast proportion of legionary denarii, yet it is unmistakably an official production. Whilst on the face of it, it is merely an unusual style from a celator who engraved few dies. But when combined with the metal and morphology, I can only explain this as being from a different mint location; perhaps part of a preliminary issue, or a post-Actium issue by remnants of the Antonine army. I have compared this coin with about a thousand online examples. The short galley with prominent staff and flag on a thick flan matches no other coin. Important. [Andrew McCabe]