#3 of 6 new coins that Mrs stevex6 doesn't know about

C. Piso L.f. Frugi AR Denarius
61 BC
Rome mint
Diameter: 17 mm
Weight: 3.73 grams
Obverse: Head of Apollo right, hair bound with fillet; wreath behind
Reverse: Horseman galloping right, holding whip
Reference: Crawford 408/1b (O40/R56); Hersh, Piso 238 (O235/R2056); Sydenham 866; Calpurnia 24d
Other: 6h, VF, toned, porous surfaces, cleaning marks under tone

 

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woa......that is amazing, check out appollo, supper coin.

 

Nice coin!

 

Stunning reverse, surely even 'the wife' would agree these had to be bought Steve.

 

Another beautiful coin indeed, but I might suggest putting the name of the coins you're posting in your thread titles. That's just my personal preference though - I have no authority here.

 

I've gotten so I really like these Roman Republican coins

 

Point taken John Anthony ... however, in this particular case I really just wanted to unload these 6-coins that I've purchased over the past couple of weeks (I figured if I merely numbered them 1 through 6, at least you dudes would know which ones you've already looked at ... right?)

... but again, in the future I'll try to think-up some clever name with the actual "coin description" in the title ... okay?

Example => Let's Boogie for Piso Frugi!! .............. yah, or not? (I'll figure something out)

 

Sounds good. The only reason I ask is that I like to do some research on the coins people post. Then it's easier to get back to the right thread if the actual coin is in the title. But really, it's no big deal one way or another.

 

Really like the look of this coin. And its well centered.

 

Hi Stevex6:

The coins of this moneyer are my favorite. I'm sure you see the high relief of the Apollo, and this Apollo with a fillet(there is a 2nd type with a wreath) has the highest relief of any RR denarius, and in fact the reverse is often cupped-shaped to effect the high relief on the obverse.

The issue of this moneyer was one of the largest of the RR period but used control marks on the obv. and rev. to differentiate the dies. Yours has a wreath with 2 ties on the obverse while the control mark on the reverse is partly off the die at the bottom, but is a sort of "H" with an arm at the top left. There are about 500 different varieties of these combinations of control marks but your combination or any other combination has only a few dozen surviving specimen at best. This means that the total issue is common but each control mark combination is "Rare". I put the word Rare in quotation marks because it doesn't increase the value, but only means that very few are known.

In your reference listing is the Hersh Piso 238, and this refers to the Numismatic Chronicle for 1976 in which Charles Hersh pictures and describes the varieties and your is #238 of 485 described. A few more have been discovered since.

You may already know all this or it may be more than you want to know, but I won't tell the Mrs. about it!

Ron

 

I didn't know. Thanks for the information.:thumb:

 

This is one of my C. Calpurnius Piso, PISO 110, with a Bee on Obv and a letter B on Rev.

Ron

 

^lovely!

 

Tha's a gorgeous coin!!

ld-guy-smile:

 

I have only one of this series and it is a plated ancient counterfeit or fourree (right below). The other two I show are a generation earlier when Gaius' father Lucius held the position of moneyer and issued a huge number of these coins. Many of his dies were numbered and used to failure. I have not done the research to see how many Lucius types there are but between father and son, this becomes a very common denarius.


I have to note that the bee/B die matching shown above is not a play on the words since the Latin word for the insect is Apis not starting with a B. I was not aware that these were the highest relief coins. My fourree is not high relief and the two of the father are not remarkable in this way. It does bring up a point I find interesting about Republican coins. The production was controled by the moneyers who hired and disciplined the workers. Some cared more than others. Some employed die cutters of great skill while others got the cheapest money could buy. Some designs are well thought out and carefully produced. Others were rushed and often off center. There are some Republican coins that are embarrassingly bad and others that are beautiful within a very short time frame. The Calpurnia are not my favorites but are often good looking coins. Republicans are well studied with great books (like Crawford), several illustrated catalogs of big collections showing most of the types and now a great online resource. The British Museum has posted its massive collection online. The problem is that I find coins very hard to find although I suspect a bit of practice would help that. My link below says it returns over 300 coins that might be of interest but I fail to find them all. Does anyone have skills with this catalog that make it useful?

http://www.britishmuseum.org/resear...rnius+Piso+Frugi/!//!!//!!!/&allCurrentPage=1

 

Calpurnia => I personally have seen far more examples showing the horseman carrying a "wreath" when compared against the number of examples I've seen where the horseman is carrying a "whip" ... is this a true statement, or are both coin-types just as common as each other?

I knew that there were several different control marks on these coins, but I didn't realize that there were 485+ varieties!! (man, I've got a long way to go ... 1/485) ... *sigh*

dougsmit => nice fourree ... and thanks for the link

:thumb::thumb:

 

Ron, that is one gorgeous coin. The only Piso coin I own is a broken Denarius I recently picked up for a good price.

L CALPURNIUS PISO CAESONINUS & Q SERVILIUS CAEPIO, AR Denarius Crawford 330/1a, struck at Rome in 100 BC

OBV: Head of Saturn facing right, harpa and legend PISO behind, CAEPIO and symbol below, Q below chin
REV: AD FRV EMV EX SC, the two quaestors seated left between 2 grain ears


This piece was minted circa 100 BC under the authority of the moneyers L. Calpurnius Piso Caesonius and Q. Servilius Capeio, Quaestors. The obverse depicts the head of Saturn facing right, harpa and legend PISO behind, CAEPIO and symbol below, Q below chin. The reverse features the two Quaestors seated left between corn ears, with legends AD.FRV.EMV./EX.SC. This is an abbreviated form of "Ad Frumentum Emundum, ex Senatus Consulto". This piece was minted specifically for use in conjunction with a law that was passed to allow people to buy corn for "a semis and a triens for a modius". The Senate ordered the quaestors to strike a special issue of coins so that they could fulfil the provisions of the law. A very decent example of this scarcer historical type, issued for an early form of price control!

 

ooops => thanks Ron ... I meant palm-branch, not a wreath (my bad)

Thanks, yah I thought that the ol' whip seemed to be a bit more rare (thanks for putting a few numbers to the whole thingy ... I appreciate the extra info)

Hmmm, I don't recall seeing a coin with the rider carrying the "torch" (but it sound sawesome) ...

Thanks again

:bow:

 

Stevex6:

I wanted to add that the wreath with ties on the obverse is only found on 2 varieties out of the 485 combinations.

One more comment on the Reverses. Most have the rider with no hat but there are very scarce varieties with the rider wearing a wide brimmed hat or a conical hat.