Roman Republican Sextans - How do you attribute?

In @Aethelred 's post "My First Republican Bronze" I posted a link to a portion of the Crawford Catalog I have been perusing online. In that same thread was this comment:

As a newcomer to Ancients I wish reference material such as Crawford and RIC, & etc. were more readily accessible. If it weren't for sites like this one and those like @dougsmit 's and the support of a few colleting friends I'd most likely still be collecting that ubiquitous US coinage. Even though I'm still learning I feel I have a decent grasp on Imperials but these early Republicans seem dauntingly difficult.

My goal was, and still is, to acquire a nice representative example of a Janus/Prow AE As but I got sidetracked.

I bid on, and won, a RR bronze from eBay that had no info other than "Roman Republic 5,5 grms" - I've spent the last few days (before the close of the auction) trying to identify it so that I would know exactly what I was buying but with no luck. I went ahead and bid since it looks ok to me and I didn't want to lose it. Another couple hours today and even still I'm having no luck finding a similar example. The Monogram in the right field is stumping me.

Am I confusing a part of the Galley Prow as being part of the monogram? Possibly is this P. Manlius Vulso?

Ok I guess I'll jinx myself even though it's not in hand yet, but otherwise this will be driving me mad all weekend.

Here is the coin (sellers pics):


Sextans
Obv: Head of Mercury wearing winged cap (petasus), 2 pellets above
Rev: Prow of galley right, Roma above, 2 pellets below

 

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As you suspected, yours is a Crawford 64/6a "MA" sextans struck in Sardinia under the praetor P. Manlius Vulso circa 210 BC similar to this: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1102138

It's over struck on something, probably a sardo-punic bronze, and that is part of the reason it looks a bit strange, but the "MA" is the only thing that's part of the monogram. It's a nice example. Unfortunately there's really no shortcut for these except looking at a lot of coins and learning the different styles.

 

Congrats Dadams, really nice coin with good details.
Mine is from Sicily , same time period.

 

Wow @dadams , I'm not into Republican bronzes, but if I found one as nice as yours, I don't think I could pass it up. Nice catch, man. That is a fantastic example you got there.

 

That is a great little coin @dadams, I envy you. For what it might be worth that coin is listed in Sear as SR-1226 and according to Sear was issued 211-206 BC, during the Second Punic War.

 

Speaking of the Punic wars, I have a coin coming from Carthage, but I'm not showing it till I have it in hand.

 

Looking forward to that!

 

Wow!! => congrats on scoring that OP-stunner!!



Hey dadams, I'm not an "expert" on AE RR's but I do recall seeing that monogram





... again, I'm technically not an expert at attributing these gorgeous coin-types

=> congrats again on scoring that sweet OP-coin

 

Time moves quickly. Five years from now you'll have a much better grasp of the material. In fifteen years, people will be asking you your opinion. Stay with it and enjoy the learning curve.

 

@dadams is a scholarly fellow and a quick study. I'd ask his opinion now.

 

Thanks to @red_spork for easing my mind about the attribution. I kinda slipped into this one unintentionally but am now even more excited to get this one in hand.

@Sallent this is my 1st RR coin and when I saw it I had to have it!! I've been looking at a lot of RR bronze lately and the detail on this one screamed "BUY ME".

@stevex6 nailed this one on the head as what I was originally seeing was C M. Figuring out that M was a ligated MA was not so easy for me.

@Aethelred is much too kind, but I appreciate the kudos. Much of what I like about Ancient collecting is the research - everyday I learn something new. I aspire to have the retained knowledge I see many here have. You guys & gals ROCK!

-Doug