A very SAXy sextans

Today I'm sharing an extremely scarce "C•SAX" sextans struck during the 15-20 year period of bronze-only currency that began circa 169 B.C. Because hoards of bronzes are virtually nonexistent and there is no silver to link them with, precise dating of these issues is nearly impossible and this type is lumped in with many others as "169-158 B.C.". Unfortunately not much is known about the moneyer: he is thought to have possibly been a son of the Cluvius Saxula elected praetor in 173 B.C. and a likely-related Saxula struck a series of coins with just "SAX" above the prow during this same bronze-only period but the moneyer is otherwise unknown.



Roman Republic Æ Sextans(17.9 mm, 5.80g). C. Cluvius Saxula, moneyer, 169-158 BC. Rome mint. Head of Mercury right wearing winged Petasos, •• above / Prow of galley right; C•S[AX] above, •• before, ROMA below. Crawford 173/5; Sydenham 360d; Babelon Clovia 10
Ex. RBW Collection, Ex. Wayne Phillips list 194, 280, May 1995

Please share anything similar you may have!

 

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Nice scarce issue @red_spork! All I've got is an Anonymous As with the common SAX legend



Roman Republic 169-157 B.C.
AE As (33 mm, 30.58 g, 9 h)
Obv: Rome. Laureate head of Janus; above, I
Rev: Prow of galley right; above, SAX; before, I; in exergue, [ROMA]
Ref: Crawford 180/1, Syd 361, SR706
Ex. RBW Collection, Ex. Spink April 1990

 

That's a really beautiful coin, ACG. Great provenance too.

 

Cool OP-coin ... congrats red_spork

Oh, and I love your example too, ACG (sweet)

=> man, I love the AE RR prow coins!!

Ummm, hopefully you're not getting too tired of my AE RR prow-coins?

AE RR Semis


AE RR Quadrans


AE RR Over-struck Triens


AE RR As


AE RR As

 

Great coins as always, Steve. The day I get tired of prow coins I might cash out and find a new hobby. They are some of my favorite types.

 

Thanks! These days, it's important to pay attention to provenance.

 

@stevex6 -- cool coins! I see the dolphin, elephant, wolf and butterfly...but what animal is on the 3rd coin?

 

Hi ACG ... hey, check-out this thread (it should explain that cool overstruck sweetie)

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/an...-train-or-is-that-a-killer-overstrike.271414/

 

How did I miss that thread? What a cool coin, I love it!! The Prow is overstruck on Zeus

 

I love the way the RR used monograms (SAX)... Very cool!

 

BTW, in case no one noticed, ACG's is a different "SAX" than mine. Crawford remarks that he's probably a brother as the series were struck around the same time but the "C. SAX" and "SAX" series are certainly struck by two different moneyers as evidenced by stylistic differences both in their obverses and more notably the style of the prow on each.

 

Nice find! I'm also very much entertained by RR ligatures. This is the first time I've seen A and X combined in such a way.

 

Forgive Steve for hiding that bull. Imagine the horror that Steve might buy a coin with no animal.