Unexpected win - new Roman Republic Denarius

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Nice coin! Here's one with a reverse that's very similar to your obverse, issued three years after yours.

Roman Republic, Aulus Plautius, AR Denarius, 55 BCE, Rome mint. Obv. Turreted head of Cybele right, A. PLAVTIVS before, AE[D CVR S C] behind [portion in brackets off flan] / Rev. “Bacchius the Jew” [ = Aristobulus II of Judaea?],* in attitude of supplication, kneeling beside saddled camel standing right, extending olive-branch with right hand and holding camel’s bridle with left hand, his cape flowing behind him; BACCHIVS in exergue, IVDAEVS on right. RSC I Plautia 13, Crawford 431/1, Sydenham 932, Sear RCV I 395 (ill.), Harlan, RRM II Ch. 18 at pp. 145-149, BMCRR 3916. 18x20 mm., 4.25 g. (Purchased from Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 211th Buy or Bid Sale, May 2020, Lot 183.)





* See Sear RCV I at p. 148: “Aulus Plautius strikes as curule aedile. The problematic interpretation of the reverse type appears to have been most successfully resolved by [Michael] Harlan in RRM [see Roman Republican Moneyers and Their Coins 63 BCE-49 BCE (2nd Revised Edition 2015), Ch. 18 at pp. 146-148] . . . who identifies the kneeling figure as Aristobulus [= Judah Aristobulus II of the Hasmonean Dynasty, d. ca. 49 BCE], the Jewish high priest, then held captive by Pompey in Rome.”

 

GREAT CATCH, @AussieCollector , and nice to see you posting again!

I have one to toss in:


RR Aemilius Scaurus and Plautius Hypsaeus 58 BC AR Denarius camel scorpion quadriga 4.1g 19mm Rome Cr 422-1b

 

I gotta say I am not a huge fan of my coin.

Too much going on, too many devices, too many moving parts.

It needed to be more simple: get rid of all the lettering, get rid of that stupid scorpion, have more clean empty space around the central figures on the Obv and Rev, and then it would been a beautiful coin!

There was too much chest-thumping going on by that moneyer!

 

Haha.. best post of the night.. and a great acquisition @AussieCollector !

 

Hey, I like it. Want to give it away? Seriously, do you also dislike the reverse of my mine, which is almost the same as the obverse of yours, issued three years before mine? The only real difference is the placement of the lettering.

 

There is a variety that's a little less busy, Crawford 422/1a, noticeably scarcer than 422/1b. Not my coin, this one was sold by Roma Numismatics in September of last year:



This coin however is mine, an extremely rare solid silver hybrid of 422/1a obverse and 422/1b reverse. 5 examples are known from 3 die pairs, and all of the known dies are linked to dies used for 422/1a and 422/1b, so this was just struck during the transition between the two varieties at the mint while some old dies were still in use.


Roman Republic AR denarius(3.80g, 18.31mm). M. Aemilius Scaurus and P. Plautius Hypsaeus, 58 BC, Rome mint. Camel right; before, kneeling figure, holding reins in left hand and olive-branch tied with fillet in right hand; above, M SCAVR; on either side, EX SC; below, AED CVR. Border of dots / Jupiter in quadriga left, holding reins in left hand and hurling thunderbolt with right hand, ; above, P HVPSAEVS; AED CVR in two lines. Below, C HVPSAE COS; PREIVER in two lines. On right, CAPTVM upwards. Border of dots. Jordan Montgomery & Richard Schaefer, "A Doubted Variety of M. Aemilius Scaurus and P. Plautius Hypsaeus Vindicated", KOINON I, 2018, fig. 1(this coin), Crawford 422/1-(obverse 422/1a, reverse 422/1b), cf. Bahrfeldt, Nachtrage i, pl. I, 9

 

If I'd designed Cr. 422/1 for one boss, he'd have scribbed "Too busy" on the sketch and I'd have had to take something out It's hard to get an example centred well enough to have all the legends.

The reverse of Cr. 431/1 is better - not so much going on.

Here are mine:

Cr. 422/1b - needs a new photo', from Jencek auction in 2013 (ex Kirby Brown Collection - all I know is that his [her?] book collection was sold in 2010 by Kolbe):


Cr. 431/1 - something of a placeholder, it has held the place since July 2014:


ATB,
Aidan.

 

It's not easy to find decent examples of 431/1 that aren't horribly expensive. At least the design is discernible on yours, unlike quite a few I've seen. I found mine in a Harlan J. Berk buy-or-bid sale earlier this year.

 

Nice coin! It's so very difficult to get everything on flan with this type. I went for this one because of the toning and a cute king Aretas:

 

Tsk, tsk! Posting your joke without a smiley face might fool the beginners among us but why do we want to confuse them? I am a strong fan of the busy version with the REX ARITAS explaining the coin's unique place in history as a type honoring the accomplishment of the moneyer rather than his ancestor. When the coin was issued it must have raised eyebrows as terribly inappropriate. The old rules of the Republic were changing fast. Things might have slowed a bit had Brutus decided that Scaurus was a danger to the Republic. This inappropriate coin was issued about the time Brutus was adopted and had not yet set on his place in history. Lucky for Scaurus!

 

Truth is, I guess, many of us need one of each of the three types since they play well together.

 

I can't argue with a goal of more RR denarii, and at auction, when there is a coin that I like and no one else wants it, I usually consider that my good fortune. Here's another 1b which I like for the reverse and unusual test cuts. It came from a small collection of RR coins that were mostly ex. Alex G. Malloy and Thomas D. Watson.
Roman Republican, M. Aemilius Scaurus and P. Plautius Hypsaeus, 58 BC, Rome, AR denarius
Obv: M SCAVR / AED CVR, kneeling figure right, King Aretas of Nabataea, holding olive branch and reins of camel beside him, EX on left, S C on right, [REX ARETAS] in exergue
Rev: P HVPSAEV / AED CVR, Jupiter in quadriga left, holding reins in left hand and hurling thunderbolt with right, scorpion below horses, CAPTV on right, C HVPSAE COS / PREIVER in exergue.
Ref: Crawford 422/1b