452, Lot: 671. Estimate $100. Sold for $320. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Anonymous. 169-158 BC. Æ Semuncia (15mm, 3.14 g, 3h). Rome mint. Head of Mercury right, wearing winged petasos / Prow of galley right; ROMA above. Crawford 113 var. (unlisted denomination); Sydenham –; RBW –; McCabe Group J1 (Essays Russo, 2013) pp. 248 & 268, figure J1.Su.1 (this coin). Brown surfaces, some roughness. VF. Extremely rare.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection. Ex Spink 236 (22 March 2016), lot 1097; Peus 374 (23 April 2003), lot 273; Münzen und Medaillen GmbH 9 (4 October 2001), lot 350 (180 DM); Numismatica Ars Classica 8 (3 April 1995), lot 663 (CHF 180).

This semuncia is associated with the star As (preceding lot) by style and is the plate coin J1.Su.1 for the group J1 anonymous bronze type in McCabe, “The Anonymous Struck Bronze Coinage of the Roman Republic” (Essays Russo 2013), illustrated on p. 268 and referenced p. 192. This is the last anonymous bronze semuncia type struck under the Roman Republic, and is important as such. See also the discussion on small module semunciae of the corn-ear type (this sale) and RRC 56/8 (discussed in CNG MBS 112). [Andrew McCabe]