In 101 B.C. Gaius Marius defeated the Cimbri at the , the last of a trio of Celtic tribes that also included the Teutones and the Ambrones which had invaded Western Europe from the North and had defeated Roman legions in their initial encounters a decade earlier. Rome must have breathed an immense sigh of relief after these defeats but that would not be the end of their work. This conflict generated an immense number of veterans, and Marius' reforms of 107 B.C. demanded that these veterans be settled on lands in conquered areas, both as a way of compensating veterans as well as Romanizing conquered areas. The decision was made to settle this particular group of veterans in Cisalpine Gaul("Gaul on this side of the Alps"). Soon after the end of the war, colonizing and settlement seems to have begun, and in support of these efforts the Romans needed coinage that could be used both in these new Roman colonies but could also be exchanged with the local tribes. Luckily for the Romans, there were already Roman coins circulating in the area: Roman silver victoriati, which were made of debased silver and originally somewhere between a denarius and a quinarius in value, were circulating alongside and roughly at parity quinarius-sized silver coins of local manufacture. These coins were likely quite worn as the Romans had not struck victoriati in over half a decade but hoard evidence confirms their presence in the economy of Cisalpine Gaul at this time. The Roman answer to the locals' preferences was to strike a series of quinarii, first in 101 B.C., and then once per year from 99-97 B.C., which revived the basic types of the victoriatus: the victory and trophy reverse and, on the first issues the Jupiter obverse as well. The coin I'm sharing below comes from the last, and the largest, of these four issues of quinarii related to the colonization and settlement effort, struck under the quaestor C Egnatuleius. This last issue diverges from the three related issues before it by replacing Jupiter on the obverse with Apollo and replacing Victory crowning a trophy on the reverse with Victory inscribing a shield held by a trophy on the reverse. In line with two of the three other related quinarius issues, however, the reverse features a carnyx, the Celtic war-horn that the Romans seemingly always try to work into these "victory over the Celts" types. This particular example loses the head and staff of the trophy as well as a small portion of the moneyer's name and "Q" on the obverse as it is struck on a tight flan(as are most examples of this type). In spite of its problems, this was a coin and type I had my eye on for quite some time and had a much better carnyx than average and in my opinion excellent eye appeal, so when I got a Vcoins gift card as a late Christmas present I knew exactly what I wanted to use it on. Roman Republic AR Quinarius(1.81g, 15mm), C. Egnatuleius, quaestor, 97 B.C., Rome mint. Laureate head of Apollo right; behind C EG[NAT][VL]EI C F Q downwards. Border of dots / Victory left inscribing shield attached to trophy; beside trophy, carnyx; between Victory and trophy, Q; in exergue, ROMA. Border of dots. Crawford 333/1; Sydenham 588; Egnatuleia 1; BMCRR Rome 1076 Please share anything relevant!
Your write up is great @red_spork . This history is why I captured my Quinarius. However, you re-focus of your collection into quality coins makes your Posts gorgeous. Well done on you capture! Your Quinarius is a beauty! Personally, I have noticed a lot of Celtic coins like the Quinarius size, and the Victoriatus approaches that Quinarius size too... Mine is more pedestrian, but I do hold a bit of that cool history in my collection... RR Egnatuleius AR Quinarius 97 BC Apollo Victory Q Trophy Carnyx Sear 213 Cr 333/1
Excellent information and background. Oh, and coin as well. Here is my poor man's example: C. EGNATULEIUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS EGNATULEIUS AR Quinarius OBVERSE: Laureate head of Apollo; behind, C. EGATVLEI C. F. Q. REVERSE: Victory l., inscribing shield attached to trophy; beside trophy, carnyx; between Victory and trophy, Q; in ex Struck at Rome, 97 BC 1.6g, 18mm Crawford 333/1, Egnatueleia 1, Syd 588
Yeah, Crawford specifically mentions(though I have no books on Celtic coinage to verify) that the Celtic silver unit weight standard used in Cisalpine Gaul had dropped to right at two grams as well and it seems the victoriati, due to their similar size and weight(due to heavy wear of several decades of circulation) circulated roughly at parity with these coins and many hoards from Cisalpine gaul are heavy in victoriati, quinarii and Celtic quinarius-sized coins.
