I had this RR denarius on a watch list for a long while but held back from the purchase. While at the ANA show back in August I was shocked to see that the very same coin on my watch list had traveled all the way from England and I didn't even have to pay shipping. All I had to do was pick it out the case and was able purchase at discounted price. Appius Claudius Pulcher, T Manlius Mancinus & Q Urbinus AR Denarius. 111-110 BC. Helmeted head of Roma right, square behind / Victory in triga right, one horse looking back, AP CL T MANL Q VR in ex.
Wow @TJC congratulations... VERY nice Mancius! I really enjoy this on as it has one of the two Trigas ever minted among the Roman Denarii. I have one, but did not pull off the beauty you captured. I love my Triga Denarius though! The third horse was usually an older/experienced horse for Bigas and Quadrigas. It was used a guide or training horse for the two younger horses on the Biga... Roman Republic Pulcher Mallius Mancinus Urbinius 111-110 BCE AR Denarius TRIGA Sear 176 Craw 299/1a
That's a great example for the type. I've been looking for one for a while but just haven't pulled the trigger just yet. I've got the only other denarius with a triga on it though: Roman Republic AR Serrate Denarius(3.72g, 19mm). C. Naevius Balbus, moneyer, 79 BC, Rome mint. Diademed head of Venus right; behind, S•C / Victory in triga right; above, CCV; in exergue, C•NAE•BALB. Crawford 382/1b; Babelon Naevia 6 Ex. CNA XIV lot 693, March 20, 1991
I have the other Triga too, like @red_spork ... RR Naevius Balbus 79 BCE AR Denarius Venus SC TRIGA Sulla Sear 309 Craw 382/1
Congrats on the Pulcher et al. On yours, you can see the symbol behind the portrait pretty well. I've never been able to figure out what that is supposed to be. Crawford calls it a "quadrangular device". Indeed. Anyone have any ideas?
Square Peg with a Round Hole in it. The Romans solved that problem YEARS ago... and this was to memorialize it.
On some examples, the device is shown with three sides rather than four, making it easy to identify as a... "triangular device" . Not mine: Nice coin, OP! I'm still on the hunt for one of these.
Here's mine, but the "device" isn't as well defined as the OP. And Zumbly's 3 sided version up ends 'Ol Crawford! Nice Zum!
Wow, great ears on your OP-horses ... oh, and I love the golden toning eye-appeal => congrats on a total winner!!
WOW !!! Fantastic OP and great posts everyone!! A few months ago I noticed I was missing a triga and decided to grab the first decent one I came across....and here it is; another Balbus serrate:
Noob alert: why are some of these serrate, and some not? Was there a reason for this, or a design choice? Did it depend on the year? It seems that some types are always serrate, some are never, and some are half and half. Help make some sense of the serrated edges for a noob....
No types are half and half. There are some types normally serrate with a handful of non-serrate examples and vice versa. there are also types that are non-serrate with similar types that are serrate but of a different style and probably different engravers(Cf. The issues of Hosidius Geta, Crawford 408). But no types are half and half or anything like that. In this case, the non-serrate variety is the variety that came a few decades after the original "triga" type. The exact reasons for the serrations are debated and explanations range from anti-counterfeiting to stylistic choices and everything in between, but no one can say for sure.
