The Latin purpura loosely translates to the English purple, but a more precise description of the specific color family described by this word is "Tyrian purple", a range of purple dyes derived from the excretions of various types of sea snails. Tyrian purple was prized throughout much of the ancient world because unlike other dyes, it did not fade in the sun and in fact, became more intense. Theopompus relates that in Colophon, the prized dye was worth its weight in silver. So what, might you ask, does this have to do with coins? Well, this particular coin bears a murex-shell above the horses on the reverse, along with "PVR", thought to be short for the cognomen Purpurio. The murex shell may simply be a pun on similarity of the cognomen Purpurio to the color purpura, however J.S. Richardson offers another explanation, in his paper "The Triumph, the Praetors and the Senate in the Early Second Century B.C." from The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 65 (1975). According to Richardson, this cognomen first appears in the historical record in reference to the moneyer's ancestor, L. Furius Purpurio, who as praetor in 200 B.C., defeated the last remnants of Hamilcar's invasion force as it traveled through Gaul. Furius had requested assistance from Rome, but the praetor encountered and defeated the enemy forces before the reinforcements sent from Etruria could arrive. After this he traveled to Rome and asked for a triumph, which was quickly granted, making him the first Praetor to receive a triumph, in stark contrast to the usual tradition of only granting triumphs to Consuls. Livy doesn't explicitly say this, but Richardson and others theorize that the cognomen Purpurio refers to the extraordinary achievement of this praetor taking up the "vestis triumphalis" - the Tyrian purple vest worn by individuals during their triumphs. At any rate, this coin is a really fantastic example of a really interesting type. It has one of the clearest murex shells of any of the examples I was able to find, along with some beautiful toning that is beginning to develop and while it does have some flat striking at about 6 o'clock on both sides, that's probably the only reason I was able to afford such an otherwise excellent example. It's also ex. RBW, a nice bonus. I totally Clio'd someone to win it(hopefully not one of my fellow CoinTalk'ers) for about 2.5x estimate but I think it was well worth it for this beautiful coin. Roman Republic AR Denarius(18.8 mm, 3.99 g, 12 h), Furius Purpurio, moneyer, circa 169-158 B.C. Rome mint. Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, X. Border of dots / Luna in biga right, holding reins of nearer horse in left hand and reins of further horse and goad in right hand; above, murex-shell; below, PVR; in linear frame, ROMA. Line border. Crawford 187/1; Sydenham 424; BMCRR Italy 420; Babelon Furia 13. Ex. RBW Collection, Ex. Crédit Suisse 5, 4/18/86, lot 246
Red: That is a beautiful example and a well detailed murex shell. It almost looks 3D. Let me know when you want to relocate it to my collection, eh?
Thats a really awesome shell! I love shells here a couple of my better ones, they are Conch shells not Murex shells :-(
Red: beautiful! Lydia, of Bible fame, was a "seller of purple cloth," indicating she was dealing in pricey goods. Loved your write-up. Steve
Great coin, red. The detail on that murex shell is completely off the charts, but really, there's much to love about this coin. Congrats!
Nice write up Red and congrats on the RBW Purpurio! The murex shell is perfect and I hunk you did really well on it! Nice earlier pedigree too. Here's mine again. I couldn't resist. One of my favorite earlier issues.
Nice write up, @red_spork, love the details on that shell! I am first in line behind @Bing (after it is relocated to him, he can relocate it to me)
The murex shell on these denarii is indeed the most interesting part of the design, but has anyone else noticed that the coins exhibit some of the most consistently well-proportioned and regal depictions of Roma? Occasionally you come across an oversize nose, but nothing that looks like some of the caricatures you find on RR denarii of other moneyers. This one lasted in my store for about three hours, also ex-RBW...
Rome during this period had very skilled celators but unfortunately there was very little silver struck so you don't see it much unless you collect the bronzes, which almost never come in high grade and hoards of them from this period are almost unheard of. But I agree, by far one of the best engravings of Roma you'll find.
Wow, r_spork => congrats on a great OP-score ... total winner murex-shell => winna-winna (I'm totally jealous of that symbol)
Don't learn too much. In its day, there were those of the opinion that it was an inappropriate term for die cutter. The Latin word celator means secret keeper.
