2019 isnt over quite yet! This republican denarius called me loudly. The obverse die is particularly artistic; among my favourites for the series.. So despite being 'done' for the year I had little choice in the matter =) As always, feel free to show off your own examples of this wonderful type Moneyer issues of Imperatorial Rome. L. Plautius Plancus. 47 BC. AR Denarius 20.5mm, 3.90 g, 7h Rome mint. Facing mask of Medusa with disheveled hair; coiled serpents flanking / Aurora flying right, conducting four horses of the sun and holding palm frond. Cf. Crawford 453/1a-b, d-e; CRI 29; cf. Sydenham 959, 959a; cf. Plautia 15, 15a-c;cf. RBW 1583-4. Lustrous, marks and scratches, large flan/metal flaw on reverse, weakly struck in areas. Good VF. For good measure, here are the same dies in all their glory, well struck and minus the scratches and wear. An embarassingly awesome example (NOT mine, this belongs some some other lucky collector!)
Probably my favorite RR type. Yours has a very nice snake-tressed Medusa. On mine, I paid more attention to the reverse, but did also like that it had the large (snakeless) Medusa face filling the entire flan. I do still need the version with the snakes. ROMAN REPUBLIC AR Denarius. 4.03g, 18mm. Rome mint, 47 BC, L. Plautius Plancus, moneyer. Crawford 453/1c; CRI 29a; Sydenham 959b. O: L.PLAVTIVS, facing mask of Medusa with disheveled hair. R: Aurora flying right, holding a palm branch and conducting the four horses of the Sun; PLANCVS below.
@zumbly that is a great coin! Perfectly struck from quality dies, and much better use of the full flan I like the toning too. Thanks for sharing
What an outstanding obverse die!! I see why you heeded its siren song . I bought this one from Jonathan Kern at the Chicago ANA show 2014. He had just received a box of coins from an NGC submission. This coin might win for "least time in a slab" . While it has some wear, the centering is unusually good. Roman Imperatorial, moneyer L. Plautius Plancus 47 BCE AR Denarius, 3.79 gm Obv: L. PLAVTIVS; facing mask of Medusa, serpents at either side of face; banker's mark on cheek Rev: PLANCVS; Aurora flying right and conducting the four horses of the sun. Banker's mark in left field. Ref: Plautia 15b Sear 429, Cr453/1b; Syd 959a. formerly slabbed by NGC
Snakes or not, these vary a lot in style and the expression on Medusa's face. My two are not high grade but I liked the style. I really need one with a full four horse reverse.
For those reasons I doubt I can stop at just one.. Your second example is quite attractive, my favourite of the two. As far as I can tell these were all struck at the Rome mint in the same year, but are we looking at the work of multiple celators? If so, how many?
I don't know how many artists cut the dies, but Crawford estimated there are 195 dies in five different styles. Brockage: L. Plautius Plancus. 47 B.C. AR denarius (18 mm, 3.62 g). Brockage strike. Rome. Obv: L · PLAV[TIV]S below, head of Medusa facing Rev: Incuse of obverse. VAuctions/Triskeles Auctions, Sale 17, September 2016, lot 451 (WJP Brockage Collection) = Classical Numismatic Group, e-auction 59, February 2003, lot 131. (For an example of a reverse brockage, see NAC Auction 92, May 2016, lot 1877 ) For another example of the die, see CGB.fr, MONNAIES 21, June 2004, lot 2221 (and here). The cataloger wrote (and Google translated) "Beautiful expressive portrait.... Mr. Crawford noted an estimated 195 obverse dies ... five varieties. On this copy, the hair is natural."
Thanks The look is accomplished with a digital photo editor, in this case Photoshop Elements although there are similar free online editors which will work. It is created by using several layers of a template. The coin images have to be carefully cut out and placed in the proper position and layer; the coin images are copied, flipped, and dragged into the "reflection" position. It's not a one-click process.
Wow 195 obv dies presumably in the same year.. that’s a busy mint. Thank you @Ed Snible. No wonder I only spotted one die match for the OP coin, needle in a haystack.
