432, Lot: 255. Estimate $150. Sold for $250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

C. Piso L.f. Frugi. 61 BC. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.92 g, 6h). Rome mint. Laureate head of Apollo right; heron standing right to left / Horseman galloping right, holding whip and reins; grasshopper above. Crawford 408/1a; Hersh, Piso 31 (O10/R1043); Sydenham 850c; Calpurnia 24h; RBW –. VF, lightly toned, graffiti in right obverse field.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection, purchased from Mediterranean Coins, 2005.

Hersh ANS manuscript Symbols Group G, Series 18 (laureate head right, horseman right with whip) heron/grasshopper. Hopefully, the manuscript on “Symbols on Roman Republican Coins” compiled by Charles Hersh will be published. It's drawn up ready to reproduce as-is with wonderful penmanship and color, showing careful reproduction of symbols and meticulous organization of complex issues such as the Piso Frugi's, with virtually every symbol citing a museum collection coin. Charles Hersh did the research for this work between 1950 and 1953, when based in London under a Fulbright scholarship from Harvard to study Greek coins at the British Museum. He spent much of the time posthumously editing for publication Sydenham's catalogue, and then traveling to Europe to visit the various collections of Roman Republican coins in search of symbols, such as on this coin. [Andrew McCabe]