420, Lot: 379. Estimate $150. Sold for $260. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Anonymous. 169-158 BC. Æ Quadrans (21mm, 6.52 g, 6h). Star (official) series. Rome mint. Head of Hercules right, wearing lion’s skin headdress; ••• (mark of value) behind / Prow of galley right; [R]OMA above, ••• (mark of value) below, eight-rayed star to right. Crawford 113/5 var. (star above prow); Schaefer & McCabe Period 1 Quadrans (p. 103, Fig. 8); Sydenham –; Type as RBW –. VF, dark green and brown patina, some roughness. Very rare.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection. Ex RBW Collection duplicate; UBS 59 (29 January 2004), lot 6125 (part of).

This is a very rare fraction of RRC 113, as described by Schaefer and McCabe in Numismatic Chronicle 2011. These RRC 113 fractions always weigh more than 6 grams, and their reverse prow style exactly matches the prow on the RRC 113/2 star As. This is not one of the common star-before-prow bronzes that are usually classified as RRC 196/4, and are, in fact, contemporary imitations in erratic style, and always weigh about 4 grams or less. In fact, Crawford, as well as earlier numismatists, misled by the light weight imitations, erroneously switched the RRC 196 and RRC 113 fractions. Very few examples of this official 113 star quadrans are known. It is missing from most collections, as collectors have mistakenly substituted the very common light weight imitations. [A. McCabe]