I've posted a few of my "staff" series coins here over the past couple of years but so far all of those have been from the Cr. 106 staff series from Etruria. I recently won a semis from the later Cr. 112 staff series minted in Rome, my first such example from this later series. The technical description of "Saturn/Prow right with staff above" is much the same as the semis of the earlier staff series(with the exception of the placement of the "S" on the reverse) but the style is completely different as evidenced by this example of the earlier series. There are a few similar examples where either the Rome mint used the same symbol for two different series separated by time or where some field mint used a symbol and then Rome later used a similar one and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Maybe the moneyer just thought it was a cool symbol or maybe there's some sort of actual link there, but there's no real way to say for sure. Roman Republic Æ Semis(28mm, 13.88g). Anonymous(Staff series), 206-195 B.C., Rome mint. Laureate head of Saturn right; behind, S/ Prow right; above, staff; before, S; below, ROMA. Crawford 112/4 Ex RBW Collection, ex Tony Hardy Collection, CNG 61, September 25, 2002, lot 1153 Note: I've shared the CNG 61 image here as I felt it captured both the detail and the actual color of the coin better than the auctioneer's. It's got a lot of green on it and some spots that might normally worry me as a bronze collector but I can happily report that the coin hasn't changed a bit since this photo was taken over 14 years ago, so I think it is fully stable. Please share anything relevant!
Cool Semis---so much detail!! Mine is lacking a bit but you can make out Saturn the 'S' and the horizontal staff.
Sweet!! red_spork, congrats on adding that very cool AE RR winner (great coin) Here is one of my examples ... Anonymous AE Semis
Nice sharp coin red_spork , Dont think there are staffs on mine Semis coins. Have an early one and a late one:
Nice semis @red_spork! I am missing any of the Cr. 112 staff series minted in Rome. All I have is this sextans from the Cr 106 series minted in Etruria. 211-208 BC Etruria mint, Anonymous Issue [staff] AE Sextans 7.94gm - 22mm Obv: Head of Mercury right with winged petasos and 2 pellets Rev: Prow of gallery right, ROMA and hortizontal staff above, 2 pellets below Reference: Crawford 106/8a
Wow. That is a VERY nice specimen of that sextans - much nicer than mine IMHO because of how well struck it is and how the full design is there:
Good score @red_spork ! I've shared this a few times...but I love it and will jump at the opportunity to post it again! It does not have a staff and was not minted in Rome: Roman Republican, Hispania AE, semis, 8.6g, 23mm; 2h; Hispania, 1st century BC Obv.: Laureate head of Saturn right; S (mark of value) behind Rev.: Prow left, S (mark of value) above In Ex.: ROMA
Cool Semi Sporky! I have a Semi that you helped identify as probably a Spanish imitative: RR Anon AE Semis 211-207 BC Saturn S Prow ROMA Sear 766 Craw 56/3 And the good ship SS Girafe (from the other side of the Med): RR Prv Macedon Amphipolis AE Semis 187-131 BC Zeus Prow giraffe shape SNG Cop 69
LOL, well I admit that I posted my new AR Sestertius and I ALMOST forgot to post the Sear number, but quickly looked it up in fear of you catching ME!
