Yet another victoriatus, from the Rome mint this time

I was sitting on the couch reading this morning when I was surprised by a knock at the door. It was the mailman needing my signature for a package from CNG. I just purchased and paid for this coin Thursday, around 11 AM Mountain time and it got here within 48 hours from the other side of the country. Color me impressed.

This victoriatus comes from the massive(400+ dies) second group of anonymous victoriati and denarii from the Rome mint. These tend to be more elegant and well-rendered than the earliest victoriati and, for whatever reason, the ROMA on the reverse tends to fall outside of the engraver's circle as it does on this example. The exact date these were minted is unknown, but I think, based on the clear progression of style that is seen and the fact that in hoards these are almost always worn to a similar degree as the earlier first group victoriati(Crawford 44) that they can't be more than a year or so removed from the earlier issues.

I've attached a few images at the bottom of this post for those who would like to compare the style to other contemporary victoriati. One of the things I find most fascinating about coins of this period, and the reason I have so many, is that because so many issues were minted at field mints throughout the Roman world and with dies engraved by so many people, likely local non-Roman engravers in many instances, the coins exhibit a wide variety of styles and in the case of the bronze even the fabric of the coins exhibits quite a variety. The others attached below were minted in Sicily, Apulia and Metapontum(most likely), respectively.


Roman Republic AR Victoriatus(17mm, 3.08g). Anonymous, after 211 B.C., Rome mint. Laureate head of Jupiter right. Border of dots / Victory right crowning trophy; in exergue, ROMA. Line border. Crawford 53/1; Sydenham 83; RSC 9.
Ex Volteia Collection

 

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Beautiful capture ! Well done.

 

Nice one @red_spork . I've been meaning to capture one but haven't had much luck yet.

 

Congrats @red_spork !! That's one of the best I've seen---certainly superior to my examples...

 

Thanks! And feel free to share your examples as well!

 

OK @red_spork ..... here they are---my two often posted examples:

 

Great looking silver, don't have any of that type.

 

A neat coin, Spork. Congrats! I find the ROMA outside of the border interesting.

Are those splits in the flan test cuts or flan defects?

 

They're flan defects I believe. Looking at them up-close there is no evidence they were actually cut into the coin such as metal bent back, etc.

 

I like this coin. Congratulations. The reverse is simply amazing.

 

Red,
Nice coin! At NYINC, Victor England told me that Volteia Collection was largely assembled from European dealers in the 1960s-1970s. So, you might want to check Europoean catalogues of that era for an earlier provenance for your new coin. Several months ago, I acquired a Volteia Collection AR Sestertius (it's in the hand of my avatar) which proved to be ex August Voirol Collection (Munzen und Medaillen, Dec 1968).

 

Thanks for the hint. I'll make a note of it but I'm not sure how much I'll find, my library is pretty limited with respect to that period. Great find on the sestertius though!

 

Nice coin / collection RS.

 

The only "53/1" I have is this coin from the latest NAC sale:



The NAC cataloger suggests though--and I agree--that it's better thought of as an uncatalogued variety of 57/1; the crescent series, but without crescent.

 

I do have some other nice victoriati. Some examples:

 

The signature flan cuts should make this coin easier than usual to find...

 

Sporky, I will say it again: Beautiful capture! Well done! That is really a nice coin. I have a few Victoriatii as well:

RR AR Victoriatus 211-206 BC Jupiter Dioscuri FINE S 49 Cr 44-1


RR AR Victoriatus 211-206 BC Jupiter Dioscuri S 49 Cr 44-1


RR AE Victoriatus after 218 BCE Rome mint Ex RBW Anon Jupiter Victory crowning trophy Craw 44-1 Syd 83 Sear 49 FOUREE


RR 211-206 BCE Victoriatus STAR Obv-Rev Sear 49 Craw 105-1

 

Alegandron - The star variety is very cool.

I don't have any victoriati yet. The whole series confuses me like the early anonymous quinarii/denarii that are defined based on a visor peak or some other minute detail, but that's not the reason. Volodya keeps buying all the ones I want!

 

LOL, yeah I NOTICED that about @Volodya swimming in the WHOLE pool! Nice coins.

Yeah, when I saw the star (everyone called it a pentagram), I snared it. To me, the pentagram is a linear design, and not filled in. I believe this series under that mintage period has several control symbols. So, I have no clue whether the star is prevalent or scarce. I got it for its coolness factor.

The Fouree surprises me: the cut is virtually an exact match to the circulating victoriatii... I wonder if these were minted off shanghai-ed dies, or some mint workers were striking them at night for some extra money. I saw NO silvering on this one. I had another thought if they were used as payment/trade to errant Magna Graecia cities that sided with Hannibal. Kinda, "here's your money...eat THIS for payment!" But, I have seen nothing about that anywhere.

I am sure you are expert at this, but I understand the Quinarii and Sestertii were intended for Roman circulation (silver sub-denominations of Denarii). However, the Victoratii and uber-rare Half-Victoratii (I wanna see if you or @Volodya pop this one out there!), are intended for circulation and trade with the Northern Italia Gauls and the Southern Italia Magna Graecia. I believe this was the intention of the RR Litrae, and probably the RR Didrachmae.