The market is strong as usual, but I managed to win three fantastic early Roman Republican coins at very decent hammers yesterday. Very happy with all three as they are difficult to find in higher grade. Künkers photos do many coins little justice, but I managed to find older, better photos of the Semuncia and the Shield and Carnyx denarius. Roman Republic. 235-231 BC. Æ Litra (2.56 g). Rome mint. Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right. Reverse: Bridled horse rearing left; ROMA below. Reference: Crawford 26/3. Provenance: NAC Auction 29, Zürich 2005, lot 249. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roman Republic. Circa 217-215 BC. Æ Semuncia (5.65 g). Rome mint. Obverse: Draped bust of Mercury right, wearing winged petasus. Reverse: Prow of galley right. Reference: Crawford 38/7. Provenance: Ex Sternberg XXVIII, Zürich 1995. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roman Republic. Circa 206-200 BC, AR Denarius (4.17 g). Uncertain mint. Obverse: Helmeted head of Roma right; X (mark of value) to left. Reverse: The Dioscuri, each holding spear, on horseback right; two stars above; shield and carnyx below horses; ROMA in exergue. Reference: Crawford 128/1.
All beautiful coins! Congratulations. As I mentioned in another thread, I bid unsuccessfully on three Roman Republican coins in the Künker auction (and won only one), but they were all different, much later types. The earliest of my 70 or so Republican coins dates only to 146 BC; if I began collecting earlier types as well I'd run out of money way too quickly!
Congratulations! You're right, those photos are much better (especially the 78/3). I noticed what seemed like a high preponderance of carnyx and Gallic warrior reverse types in Slg. Dr. W.R., either a particular interest of his or maybe those just catch my attention. Incidentally, I'm looking forward to the day when his identity is public knowledge! It's quite a vast and impressive collection. (Not trying to out him, just curious, I've got one or two from his prior sales; the catalogs did indicate "him," I believe, but that's as far as i got!)
Thank you Donna! Künker was a bit of a hit or miss auction, I saw several Republican lots go for very reasonable prices, while some really made me shake my head. Sad to hear you lost out on most of your targets, but the Volteia you won is very beautiful. I'll add some early Republican types come with reasonable prices in most cases, RRC 44/5, RRC 53/2 for denarii, most of the common Victoriatii, Quadrigatii and Quinarii, RRC 38 Bronzes, just to mention a few.
Thank you. The Volteius lion biga denarius is actually rather difficult to find in decent condition -- plus on quite a few of them the lions look more like large dogs than lions! -- so I am pleased. I do somewhat regret not bidding higher for the Volteius denarius, which went for 1,400 Euros, 400 more than my maximum bid. However, I would have had to go to at least 1,450 to win it, and who knows how high the winning bidder would have been willing to go? I bid up to 1,500 Euros on the last example of the type I tried to buy, and it ended up going for close to 3,000, with two others vying for it.
