Today I added another Republican bronze to my collection, one that would probably fit nicely into @TIF's awesome "Animals" collection: a Crawford 121/4 sow series semis. During the Republican period the Romans struck several different "animal" series, but during short this period from 206-195 B.C. they struck quite a few including the sow series shown here, a bull series, a ram series, a dog series and a series with a bird and a rudder. Unfortunately I don't have any examples of these series to share, but please, share any related coins you may have! Roman Republic Æ Semis(25.2 mm, 19.73g). Anonymous(Sow series), 206-195 B.C., Rome mint. Laureate head of Saturn right; behind, S/Prow right; above, sow; before, S; below, ROMA. Crawford 121/4; Sydenham 254a; BMCRR Rome 484 Ex. RBW Collection, Ex. Goodman Collection, CNG 45, lot 1298, March 18, 1998 Also, this is a longshot but the following tag from the Goodman collection was included in RBW's envelope. The reverse says "MM 90 [CANR?] 80" - I'm not sure if that's a reference to an auction(it's not M&M Basel 90 as that was long after this auction edit: or maybe not) but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!
Lol... brilliant! That's a really nice, clear sow on the prow. No clue on the rev tag reference, I'm afraid.
Holy ham hocks, Batman! Sow-on-prow is awesome . Yep, that would be a wonderful addition to the Pink Floyd Animals set. Jealous M&M Basel 90 took place in June 1990, so couldn't that fit? The ANS library has a copy but it isn't viewable online and so far I haven't found the entire catalog viewable anywhere online. Didn't some numismatic organization (ANA or ANS?) recently digitize their entire library for online reading? I thought I bookmarked that page/site but I can't find it and it is driving me crazy. The back of that tag is interesting. The second "word" looks like a ligature (weird!). Perhaps it is some type of code for what the person paid? Could the ligature-ish word be some country's currency name (seems unlikely), and 80 the amount of that currency? It does seem likely that the back of the tag describes the source of the coin for the collector who wrote the tag. M&M Basel auction 90's lots are numbered 201-495, so if it did come from that auction, 80 isn't the lot number.
You may be right. I think I got M&M Basel confused with some other auction house when I was researching this late last night. Edit: actually now that I look at the link from the ANS it looks like it was in 2000 which is in line with what I was thinking. I wonder if it was possibly a fixed price list instead of an auction?
I have M&M FPL 90, from March 1950. (No, I wasn't collecting yet!) This isn't in it; the list has no Roman bronze at all.
There are at least three M&M's. Basel, Germany and Washington DC. Maybe Valentinian can clear up confusions?
I think there was only one M&M when the Goodman Collection was being dispersed Doug. Germany and/or DC may have existed by 1997, just barely, but for sure neither had reached sale or list #90. I doubt either has reached it yet.
Wow, red_spork ... man, I am very jealous of that sweet OP-prow-sow coin (congrats) Yah, I love when the prow coins have animals on-board ... => again, congrats for adding that neat pig-prow winner!!
Wonderful posts!! Hmmm, it seems I only have examples with non-animals....a sextans with a grain ear and a semis with a staff above the prow....
