436, Lot: 491. Estimate $300. Sold for $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

The Triumvirs. Mark Antony. Autumn 32-spring 31 BC. AR Denarius (17mm, 3.81 g, 6h). Legionary issue. Patrae(?) mint. Praetorian galley right / [CHO]RTIS • SPECVLATORVM, three signa, each decorated with two wreaths and a prow. Crawford 544/12; CRI 386; Sydenham 1214; RSC 6; Type as RBW 1837. VF, toned, some light cleaning scratches. Rare.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 100 (Part II, 30 May 2017), lot 1682.

The speculatores commemorated on Antony's coin were army espionage men and messengers (cf. www.romanarmytalk.com). Their ‘plain clothes’ work would be in enemy terrain, disguised as deserters or traveling merchants, gaining access to the enemy camps and forts. This sort of work made them highly independent, but most of them likely functioned within normal military infrastructure, attached to every legion. As such, they would take orders via the usual chain of command, reporting to their own centurions and tribunes, the legion legate and/or the provincial governor (who would have kept a number of them on his staff). Thus, they differed from the Imperial era speculatores of the praetorian guard, which had more of an internal security function. What is curious about this Antony coin type is it suggests a separate division of speculatores rather than roles integrated within a legion. [Andrew McCabe]