Cupid Riding a Goat!!!

The more I examined this denarius, the more I just had to have it!! The strike and devices too irresistible for me to ignore....

It's another example from the McCabe Collection and it's noted: "Crawford suggests this and other 'anonymous' types struck in this period and marked to indicate they were made from public money (EX AR or EX Argento Publico), may have been struck using silver bequeathed to the Roman people by Ptolemy X Alexander of Egypt."

Silver anonymous denarius, 3.38 grams, 18.4 mm; struck 85 BC;
Crawford 353/2, Sydenham 726, Fonteia 12 BMCRR I Rome, SRCV I 273.

Laureate head of Vejovis right, thunderbolt below, EX A P downward behind.
Cupid seated on goat, flanked by caps of the Dioscuri, thyrsus of Bacchus in ex. all within laurel wreath.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Nice addition, better then mine.


MN FONTEIUS CF (85 B.C.)
AR Denarius
O: Laureate head of Apollo Vejovis right, M FONTEI CF behind, thunderbolt below, ROMA monogram below chin.
R: Infant Genius riding goat right, caps of the Dioscuri above, filleted thyrsos below.
Rome
4g
20mm
Cr353/1a

 

That's pretty awesome!

 

Nice piece Mikey!

 

These are cool coins for sure

 

I really love that the engraver made Cupid and the goat so large - the reverse has incredible style. The size on Bing's coin is more typical - that example also has nice style, but in the case of this design, I think bigger is better.

 

What a fun coin! Cupid-on-Goat has been on my list for a while-- you nabbed a nice one .

 

exactly what TIF said!



great coin MZ!

 

Very nice coin MZ!

 

A reverse I've always liked. I need to get one lol.

 

Wow, Mikey-Z ... that's a very sweet example of the goat-rider!! (congrats)

Oh and as expected => i have an example of a dude riding a goat ...



again => Mikey-Z, I really like your example (it is very cool and has great "style") ... oh, and your Dioscuri are also positioned a bit differently than the norm (cool x 2)

congrats

 

One of mine:

 

Mikey-Z => oh, now I undertsand ... your example isn't the same as ours ... your example isn't an MN FONTEIUS CF ...

... cool ... your example is very cool

Oh, but you're not allowed in our cupid-club!! (ya freak)

 

Mikey's coin is really special being the Public Silver version while the rest of us have the common moneyer name version.

 

Excellent pickup! I like that Vejovis has been given a slightly goat-like appearance to match the reverse.

 

Ummm, I think that my example is kinda cool, because it has CF under the chin, rather than behind the head ... errr, does that win me bonus-points, or does that get my disqualified?

 

I've got the small goat.

 

As always, I'm more than a little surprised at the variety of styles posted whether 'Anonymous' or with the moneyer identified.

Totally amazing posts, one and all!!!

 

The genuine rarity in the series is Crawford 353/1b, which has both CF and the ROMA monogram below the chin, surely by an engraver's error. The example cited by Crawford from the Cosa Hoard was to the very best of my knowledge the only one known, until an Italian friend of mine Pierluigi Debernardi happened on another in a Spanish auction and published it along with other RR rarities in Numismatic Chronicle a few years ago.

 

Nice, a rare variant of an interesting coin. I like that both Apollo Vejovis and the goat have chin whiskers for No-Shave-November.