C Annius Tf Tn Luscus & L Fabius Lf Hispaniensis AR Denarius. ca 82-81 BC. Northern Italian or Spanish military mint. Diademed & draped bust of Anna Perenna right, winged caduceus behind, scales under chin, lizard under neck, C ANNI T F T N PRO COS EX S C arching above / Victory in quadriga right, Q above, L FABI L F HISP in ex I've taken more interest toward RR's lately. I have quite a few of the generic Roma and anonymous type; It sparks more of my interest getting into types that aren't seen very often. Speaking of which, with this particular denarius, I haven't been able to find another example of a lizard below. If anyone can find examples online or have any, feel free to post. I would like to find a decent resource listing this specific type.
Nice one! The image of the quadriga is what makes those coins in my opinion, and that coin has a great one.
Great coin iamt. I had this coin in my watch list, but missed the closing bell. Glad it went to a good home. On the flip side, don't get too interested in RR's with interesting reverses. We may have to fight over them.
that's a fantastic denarius...i have to say i also love that lizard...but just interesting front and back!
I agree that the obverse is the main attraction .... the lizard is awesome, but I love the winged caduceus and lil' set of scales too!! (very cool coin)
Banti shows twenty different symbols including your lizard as well as a series of alphabets with and without dots. Then he lists a dozen other symbols that he does not have images to show. All together, the listing takes 12 pages in the book. Certainly the lizard is coolest of the six best symbols (the animals). I suspect it would take quite a while to assemble a set of the six animals using coins as nice as yours. I can't imagine anyone wanting to collect all the letters. The lizard is Banti 3/12. There is one on acsearch: http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=201116 Mine is, I think, the Gallic trumpet (carnyx) Banti 3/9.
=> great link, Doug ...... the scorpion is also pretty neat (thanks for pointing-out this series ... I hadn't noticed this particular coin with its varying symbols until now) These types of coins-with-varying-symbols make great off-chute collections ... for example, Martin and his amazing Papius/Griffin collection ... again, that's a very cool pick-up, iamtiberius (congrats)
A question: ACSearch has some very nice coins of this series that are high grade. nicely surfaces and generally great looking BUT their centering places the minor device off flan. If you did not know it was supposed to be there, you would never miss it. I consider these coins seriously defective and would rather have a coin like mine which is weak on the caduceus (every coin of the series has this) or even a more worn coin. How do you feel about beautiful coins that are missing something that prevents full ID as opposed to lesser grade coins that have all the pertinent details?
I prefer the lesser coin, but, if I feel the need for that particular coin and the price is right, either will do.
I agree that before I read this thread I had no idea that these coins had those cool varying symbols, so I wouldn't have noticed that the coin was missing anything and I would have chosen the nice high grade example ... "however" => now that I know that these coins are struck with varying symbols, these varying symbols almost become the most important part of the coin ... especially if you're trying to create a collection depicting these varying symbols!! => so, I am now a huge fan of the varying symbols and if I decide to chase one of these coins, then I am definitely going to be looking for a sweet animal symbol!!
I think I would lean toward your preference. Of course it ultimately depends on the quality of the coin. I think my Q Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Denarius is a prime example of what you're referring to. The surface is in excellent condition, yet the elephant head-dress is cut off along w/ hercules's head. I would definitely opt for a lower grade with a better strike.
