My First Republican Bronze Came Today, How Did I Do?

I received my first (okay I bought one in the 1980s, but sold it in the early 2000s, so the first of the current incarnation of my ancient collection) Roman Republican bronze in the mail today.

I bought it from Vcoins dealer Ancient Imports, who have always provided good service and fast shipping. Mac at AI describes the coin as follows:

Attribution: Crawford 180/1
Date: Circa 169-158 BC
Obverse: Head of Janus, with I mark of denomination above
Reverse: SAX (AX in monogram) above prow right, ROMA below, I mark of denomination to right
Size: 32.89 mm
Weight: 32.41 grams
Description: Near VF. pleasing green patina


Did I do okay for a first try?

 

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I think you did great. It's a nice coin.

 

EXCELLENT!

 

I still need one of these. Nice coin.

 

Nice! Great patina and details.

 

Lots of eye-appeal with that one. IMHO, you did very well.

 

I think you did very well. The details are still largely there and it is a very attractive piece, and at 32 grams, likely an impressive piece in-hand as well. Historially, these types were minted during a short period where Rome ceased the minting of silver entirely for reasons not completely understood, so the bronzes saw more than their fair share of circulation. I will point out that the identitification is slightly incorrect, however, but many people make mistakes with this particular type.

Two moneyers from roughly the same time period put the name "SAX" on their coins - one used just "SAX" and the other "C SAX". Yours was minted by the "C SAX" moneyer and is actually Crawford 173/1. I know this because there is one little feature that, if clear, can always be used to differentiate the two: the deck structure, the device right in the middle of the top portion of the prow. On the coins of the "C SAX" moneyer, the usual raised deck structure is two dots. On the "SAX" moneyer, the deck structure sticks up and has a flat top. Compare the area directly below the "SA" on the coin here with the area below the "SAX" on this coin.

 

Great information @red_spork, it is always good to get additional information and clarification on the attribution of a difficult series like this.

I do not have Crawford, Sear Vol. 1 is my only reference on Romans Republican bronze (I also have RSC for the silver) and I'm not sure I am going to go deep enough into the Republic to justify the >700.00 needed for a Crawford set.

 

a fine example Aetheired

 

Very nice, good buy.

 

A great coin!

 

Nice!! => Aethelred, I'm lovin' your new AE RR additions (great coin-type)

I like the cool monogram

 

Thanks everyone for their comments and opinions. I find that getting this coin has satisfied my need for a RR bronze.....


....for about half an hour, now I want another one!

 

Nice coin @Aethelred , I think you did well.
Good catch @red_spork . You can see the same feature on smaller denominations. I agree that several dealers randomly pick Cr-173 or Cr-180. They look similar, but Cr-173s have the line dot line feature you mention.


I bought the coin on the right, Cr-173/3, without checking my coin list and was bummed that I bought a duplicate until I realized the dealer mis-attributed it as a Cr-180/3.
http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/2016/04/csax-and-sax-4-dots-or-something-else.html

 

I like it. Enough of the right Janus face is showing for me to be comfortable with owning it, and the patina looks nice too. AI always has good buys so I'm sure you did well in terms of price, too.

 

Collectors and students need to make a decision about how they look at coins. Your coin has many good points. Your coin lacks some things we might prefer it had. Many collectors will have no coin they see to be less than perfect. Others want any coin that offers some degree of beauty. It is the old glass half full or half empty question. I would love to have a coin so filled with beauty.

 

That's a good looking coin - I've been looking for one of these myself and most I've come across are pretty horrible, so thumbs up!

Here is the Crawford Cat. online.

 

Another page to bookmark... thanks!

 

This site does contain a good portion of the catalog portion but Crawford also has a ton of good information about mint practices, weight standards, how the arrangement was laid out, hoard evidence, etc. and is really invaluable for anyone wanting to study these types past basic identification. It's a real shame that this standard text for these types is out of print and so expensive.

 

That is a super link, thank you for posting it @dadams