The Faces of Titius

i.e. garden variety run of the mill><

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Great coins and wonderful writeup, @Carausius! Very interesting

 

Curious: are the Marsic Confederation coins common? Is my third coin a common variety @Severus Alexander ? Perhaps I misunderstood.

 

My only contribution is another Titius like Bing posted:

Denarius of Roman Republic Q. TITIVS 90 BC., Rome mint. Obv. diad. head of Priapos right; Rev. pegasos right;' 3,88gr. Cr.341/1, Syd. 691

 

Nope, the point was that they're all scarce to rare, and the third one definitely rare. It's impressive to have three! Super congrats on them.

 

Fascinating stuff. Is it possible that one moneyer's officina might have intentionally borrowed a die or two for a little while? Hey, our engraver's sick today - can we just borrow a few dies to tide us over?

 

Maybe! These were trying times, and the mint was clearly under pressure to produce. Anyone who's studied the denarii of Frugi, and the abysmal die states to which those coins were struck will understand. Perhaps the harried production pace played a part as well - resulting in die assignment errors.

 

Carausius, I have re-read your post 3x and have me fascinated with your coin. I do not have the bronzes. Great job with your find, and the write-up. Cripes, you are going to cost me some money now!

 

I kinda agree: die borrowing, especially since they were going ape pounding out money for the War. Probly a lot of horse-swapping dies and not worrying about the output

 

I had this common denarius in my store a few months back - nothing to write home about, but I thought it was nice for the grade despite the irregular flan...



L. Titurius L.f. Sabinus, 89 BC
AR Denarius, 19x16mm; 3.6g; 3h.
Obv.: Head of Titus Tatius right, behind SABIN; in right field, palm branch (off flan).
Rev.: Killing of Tarpeia: Tarpeia facing, raising her hands to ward off two soldiers who are about to cast their sields on her; above star in crescent; in exergue L TITVRI (off flan).
Reference: Crawford 344/2b, Syndenham 699.

 

Great post !