Roman Republican Denarius # 47: Another elephant (+ # 48!)

Here is Crawford 269/1, 125 BC, C. Caecilius Metellus


18 mm. 3.92 grams.
"recalls the victory of L. Caecilius Metellus, Cos. 251, over Hastrabul at Panormus in 250 BC and the capture of Hastrabul's elephants" Crawford, page 281.

Sear I 145, page 101.

 

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Seleukos I, 312-281, a successor of Alexander the Great, famously had elephants.


A drachm. 17 mm. 4/16 grams.
Laureate head of Zeus right
Athena in elephant quadriga
BAΣIΛΣΩΣ
ΣEΛEYKOY in exergue.
anchor at 1:00. Monogram in circle at 3:30.
Hoover 9.32 page 13
Sear Greek 6836, page 637.

 

Don't ask but I just watched a documentary about how in Africa they built a highway through the main migratory elephant trail in this city and how they wait till night time to cross when the road is quiet. It is causing a problem for the people on the town because they walk so silent you don't hear them till its too late. I guess there wide feet act like shock absorbers and make their steps quiet. It was crazy there was people walking home with groceries and out of nowhere a elephant would come from around the corner scare them into throwing the bags and bolting. I don't blame them. So I would guess on a utilitarian view it was to know where they were so they didn't kill you. Lol Sorry to get off topic.

 

Thank you. Not off-topic!

 

I said earlier in this thread that I've been looking for some time for an example of Crawford 263/1 (the Caecilius Metellus coin with Roma on the obverse and a Macedonian shield on the reverse with an elephant head in the center), but that it's very difficult to find one with both a clear reverse legend around the shield, and a recognizable elephant head in the middle.

By pure coincidence, Forvm Ancient Coins put one up, apparently sometime in the last 24 hours, that's hardly perfect (poor Roma has a terrible skin condition on her chin and jaw), but easily meets both those requirements. In fact, I really like the reverse. Plus, the price was affordable for me. As soon as I saw it, I realized that I'm very unlikely to see another one as nice at a better price for a long time, if ever. So I went ahead and bought it. When it arrives, it will be my Roman Republican denarius # 48, and my seventh elephant coin -- the third from a member of the Caecilii Metelli family.

Rather than waiting to post a photo until it arrives, I'll do so now, while this thread is still fairly recent. I'll wait until the coin arrives to give it my own description; here is the seller's, with my additions in brackets:

Ch VF Roman Republic Denarius 127 BC Shield Decorated With Elephant Head

Roman Republic, M. Caecilius Q.f. Metellus, 127 B.C.

RR93647. Silver denarius, Crawford 263/1[a], Sydenham 480, RSC I Caecilia 29, Russo RBW 1064, SRCV I 139, Choice VF, toned, marks, scattered porosity, 3.801 g, 19.5 mm, 270 [degrees], Rome mint, head of Roma right in a winged helmet, [star on helment flap]. ROMA [upwards] behind, X (XVI ligature, mark of value=16 asses) below chin; reverse Macedonian shield, decorated with elephant head in center, M METELLVS Q F around, all within laurel wreath; from the Errett Bishop Collection.



Rather than my usual footnote, just a few quick comments:

The reason the coin is classified as Crawford 263/1a is that the obverse "ROMA" legend goes upwards; the ROMA on 263/1b goes downwards.

The supposed "star" on the helmet flap is very difficult to discern, but from looking at other examples on acsearch, I believe it's supposed to be what look like chicken-scratches below and slightly to the right of the bottom of the wing on Roma's helmet.

The reverse design apparently honors the moneyer's father, Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, who defeated the Macedonian pretender Andriscus in 148 BCE.

As with the other examples of this type shown earlier in this thread, the elephant head in the center of the shield clearly does have a bell. The way it's placed, however, it looks far more like a bottle in the elephant's mouth, from which it's drinking whatever elephants drink when they're in Rome, than a bell around its neck. I think it adds a certain charm to the scene! Even if the elephant does look a bit surly.

Finally, I Googled Errett Bishop -- not a common name, one would think -- and the only one I found was a U.S. mathematician who died in 1983. I suppose he could have been a coin collector, but who knows?

Anyway, I do hope that I can repeat this magic trick regularly in the future -- mentioning a specific coin-type I want and then seeing it show up for sale within the next two days!

 

That's a lovely example, Donna! Because of the comical elephant head, I personally call this type the "Dumbo denarius."

Mine also has an old collection provenance – it was owned by the orientalist Fritz Hommel (1854–1936), who passed it on to his son, the classicist Hildebrecht Hommel (1899–1996):

Roman Republic, moneyer: M. Caecilius Metellus, AR denarius, 127 BC, Rome mint. Obv: ROMA; head of Roma, helmeted, r.; before, X. Rev: M·METELLVS·Q·F; Macedonian shield decorated with elephant's head. 18mm, 3.83g. RRC 263/1a. Ex Hommel collection, ex Kölner Münzkabinett.

 

A wonderful coin with an impressive provenance!

 

It seems that the U.S. mathematician was indeed the Errett Bishop to whose collection my new Metellus coin belonged. See https://www.forumancientcoins.com/c...y loved ancient coins,from about 1960 to 1982:

The Errett Bishop Collection

Errett Albert Bishop (July 14, 1928 - April 14, 1983) was an American mathematician known for his work on analysis and a professor at the University of California at San Diego. He expanded constructive analysis in his 1967 Foundations of Constructive Analysis, where he proved most of the important theorems in real analysis by constructive methods. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Errett_Bishop).

He was also a great father and a fun-loving guy who would take his family biking, surfing, snorkeling, camping, etc. He enjoyed going to auctions, where he would often pick up an interesting artifact or a piece of art. Errett's son, Edward, in the photograph with his father on the right, describes his childhood home as half junk-yard, half museum. Errett especially loved ancient coins, and he was one of the founding members of the Ancient Coin Club in San Diego.

The Errett Bishop Collection includes over 1000 Ancient Greek, Roman Republic, Roman imperial, Roman provincial, Celtic, Judaean, Byzantine and other ancient coins collected from about 1960 to 1982. The collection includes 136 coins from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt. The variety of types and the range from inexpensive to beautiful showcase coins means there are coins in this collection for almost every collection and every budget. Due to the size of the collection, it will be some time before they are all added to the shop. Keep looking here or in our recent additions to see them as we add them.

 

According to Joe Sermarini, the collection had remained in the possession of Mr. Bishop's family since his death in 1983, and has now been consigned to Forvm for sale. It's impressive that the family kept it that long. I don't think my son is going to wait 38 years after I die to sell my collection!