Featured My 30th Roman Republican Coin

I know that mine is a very small collection of Roman Republican coins compared to what many of you have, so it may seem silly of me even to mention. But 30 is a lot to me, and I'm very fond of almost every one of them.

Roman Republic, A. Postumius A.f. Sp.n. Albinus (Aulus Postumius Albinus, son of Aulus [mint magistrate ca. 96 BCE], and grandson of Spurius [Consul 110 BCE]), AR Serrate Denarius, 81 BCE, Rome mint. Obv. Veiled head of Hispania right, with disheveled hair; HISPAN behind / Rev. Togate figure standing left, raising right hand towards legionary eagle to left; fasces with ax to right; A •/ ALBIN/ N • S [AL in monogram] across fields; POST • A • F in exergue. Crawford 372/2, RSC I Postumia 8 (ill.), Sydenham 746, Sear RCV I 297 (ill.), BMCRR Rome 2839-42, Harlan RRM I Ch. 1 at pp. 6-7 [Harlan, Michael, Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins, 81 BCE-64 BCE (2012)]. 19 mm., 3.92 g., 6 h. (Purchased from Brad Bowlin; Ex.“old French collection in Paris.” Double die-match to Die AB for type, RRDP, Schaefer Binder 5, p. 193-0; see http://numismatics.org/archives/ark:/53695/schaefer.rrdp.b05#schaefer_372-2_b05_p193.) *


* RSC I (p. 82), and BMCRR (p. 352 n. 1) agree that the coin probably relates to the praetorship over Spain of the moneyer’s ancestor Lucius Postumius Albinus (Praetor 180 BCE), his successful expeditions against the Vaccari and Lusitani, and the levying of troops for this campaign. Crawford concurs, stating (Vol. 1 at p. 389) that “the reverse, combining a togate figure on the one hand with an eagle and the fasces on the other, perhaps simply alludes to civilian and military imperium; taken with the obverse type, the reference is doubtless to the Spanish command of L. Postumius Albinus, Pr. 180.”

Harlan, too, details the victories of Lucius Postumius Albinus in Further Spain, and his triumph in Rome in 178 BCE. RRM 1 at p. 7. However, Harlan also ties this coin to contemporary events, namely the fact that after Sulla’s victory over Marius, there remained one bastion of Marian resistance to Roman imperium, namely in Spain, where the governor, Sertorius, refused to obey the Senate, establishing an independent state and a refuge for the defeated Marians. Sulla sent an army against Sertorius in late 82 BCE, although the conflict continued at least until 80. Sertorius found his greatest support among the Lusitanians; hence the relevance (beyond the moneyer’s family history) of L. Postumius Albinus’s victories over the Lusitanians a century earlier. Id. at pp. 6-7. Thus, according to Harlan, the “unnamed togate magistrate flanked by the fasces and the legionary eagle is a symbol of Roman imperium. Postumius’ coin shows that Spain, represented by Hispania on the obverse, must also recognize Roman imperium and embrace Rome as the head of things just as Italy had done. Id. at p. 7. (See this moneyer’s other coin, Crawford 372/1, and its theme of Rome as caput rerum for Italy, discussed at RRM I Ch. 1 at pp. 1-6.)

Here are the two Schaefer RRDP coins to which I think mine might be a double die match (see link above):



If anyone disagrees, please let me know.

Finally, here are all 30 of my Republican coins as they look today, together in their tray (click to enlarge):



Please feel free to post whatever you think may be relevant.

 

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Congratulations on the milestone. And it is quite an interesting and nice coin too! I admit I am not the greatest fan of Roman coins as I find the artistry of the Greek ones more to my taste, however I do think that there are some interesting themes among the early republican ones. Having a quick look at your 30 coins I can see a good variety of those themes. I am particularly drawn to the one on the top right with the gladiators fighting. What is it?

 

You are a coin collector after my own heart, Donna! And thank you for posting those great coins.

 

Very nice collection Donna. I will join with James in thanking you for posting these lovely examples

 

Very nice Republican collection, Donna. Your coins have cool reverses. I especially like the one with Cupid riding on dolphin.

 

A beautiful addition, and a mighty fine Roman Republican collection that obviously has been carefully selected with great taste and much numismatic knowledge!

The pictures of your collection betray the understatement of these words...

 

Donna, not insignificant at all. You have very good taste, so all of your coins are keepers. I, (and most if not all friends here), do not judge by quantity, value, or anything of someone's collection. We appreciate passion, judgment, and the thirst for knowledge we all share in common.

Out of my "pile", I could not pull 30 as nice RR than you have ma'am. Nice collection.

 

What a beautiful collection! Thank you for sharing this with us! Goals

 

Very impressive collection Donna. I look forward to seeing your future milestones met along with your thoughtful commentaries along the way.

 

All beautiful specimens, Donna!

 

Really like that Denarius, @DonnaML ... very nice Serratus.

Great collection.

 

outstanding!!....

 

a pleasure to look at these coins , Congrats !!

 

A beautiful tray of 30, are all quality coins. Congrats on #30. As @jamesicus has illustrated, less can be more. I find the elbow angle on the reverse, and the stray hair on top of head useful to hone in quickly on the likely die matches - yours look good to me. Here's my denarius of this type:

A. Postumius A.f. Sp.n. Albinus, 81 BC, AR Serrate Denarius, Rome mint
Obv: Veiled head of Hispania right
Rev: Togate figure standing left, raising hand; aquila to left, fasces with axe to right
Ref: Crawford 372/2

with its Shaefer double die match from:bk.5 p.191

 

Absolute beauties!

Wanna adopt me?

 

Everything else amazing aside... that toning though:

Gimme all the well toned RRs on the planet, please.
Well done @DonnaML !!!

 

Donna , that's a beautiful collection. What a gorgeous Plautius!!!

 

Thanks so much for all the kind words!

That's actually supposed to be a battle between a Roman soldier and a barbarian:

Roman Republic, Q. Thermus M.f., AR Denarius 103 BCE. Obv. Head of Mars left with crested, plumed helmet/ Rev. Roman soldier advancing right, fighting with uplifted sword a barbarian soldier before him, while protecting with shield a fallen comrade at his feet, Q THERM.MF. in exergue (THE and MF in monograms). RSC I Minucia [Q. Minucius Rufus] 19 (ill.), Crawford 319/1, Sear RCV I 198 (ill.), BMCRR Italy 653. 19.4 mm., 3.97 g.

 

@DonnaML , that's a beautiful collection and looking at all 30 in the tray, each is interesting and worthy of its own story. You could pick any one of those coins and be proud of it. Congratulations on the milestone! Don't wait until 40 to show us another one.

 

I like each and every one of the types you show and believe that you have thirty of the best RR coins that do not include any of the ubiquitous chariot or Dioscuri types. Below are ten of my favorites that might look familiar. These are all before 100BC and are limited only by the CT 10 photo limit.