Pan was an interesting mythological deity ( "pan" means "all", i.e. the god's encompassing protection, now used in an all inclusive expressions,like "panamerican, panorama,etc.). Son of Hermes, hiddeous looking,head and feet of a male goat.associated to the idea of fertility.The gens Vibia had Pansa as a surname and reproduced the mask of Pan on their coins of the Roman republic.
Nice Pansa @PMONNEY ! Congrats on this... I have a couple Pansa... RR Vibius Pansa 90 BCE AR Den Apollo Minerva Quadriga Sear 242 Cr 345/5 RR C Vibius CF CN Pansa 48 BCE AR Denarius Pan Jupiter Anxurus Sear 420 Craw 449/1
@Volodya , what is the Crawford or Sear number on your third coin? That is a REALLY cool design around the obv, and a cool bust... (and, yeah, fantastic coins Sir... you are putting the Museums to shame! )
That's Crawford 337/1a(and of course, Volodya's is the best example I've ever seen of the type). Most people associate this moneyer's name with his MUCH more common type Cr. 337/3.
It is a nice example; the type is hard to find well-struck. The late Roberto Russo complimented it as "well worth the price" after I overpaid for it in NAC 54. And for the sake of completeness, I'll note that there's another variety, Cr-337/1b, with ROMA and a control letter replacing the plow on the obverse. I finally found an example of that a few years ago, but I don't have a readily available photo.
Here's one of mine. Crawford 342/2. A rare variety with the names beneath, rather than behind, the masks. This example is ex Elvira Clain-Stefanelli Collection, ex Munzen und Medaillen 61 (1982), Lot 266 and ex Auctiones 7 (1977), Lot 554. Note the die break in the eye of Silenus. A large percentage of die-matched examples share that die break. The die must have broken early.
That's an excellent, almost unimprovable example of a scarce type that in my experience always has areas of weak strike. Yours is far more complete than most.