Those who follow John Anthony's auctions may have seen this quadrans from the Theodosius collecton in the most recent sale. The coin wasn't identified in the auction and just listed as "The buyer gets to do the research on this one". So what was it and why did I buy it? To help answer that question, I've highlighted the monogram below: The monogram reads OPEIMI read left-to-right. The P shares it's left leg with the left side of the E. The M also shares this leg, then we've got an I hanging off the end. This is the monogram for a moneyer of the gens Opeimia. There are two related issues from moneyers of this same family during the 169-158 B.C. the OPEIMI shared here and also an OPEI(I'll share one of this moneyer's coins below in a follow-on post). We don't know enough about either moneyer to identify exactly who they are since we've only got the family name but one of them may be the Q Opeimius who was elected consul in 154 B.C. That's often the case with these moneyers, many of whom either were not notable men and are only known from their coins or simply didn't leave us with enough evidence to fully determine who they were even if they may have been recorded in the histories. The quadrans of this series is quite rare with only a single example on ACSearch, the RBW coll=Gibboni coll example from the same pair of dies. That example is of course quite a bit nicer than mine but I'm very happy with my example both because I'm able at all to own an example of this type that has eluded many bronze collectors and also because in the grand scheme of things it's actually a relatively nice example, especially considering when it was minted. The period of 169-158 B.C. was characterized by Rome's temporary cessation of minting of silver coinage so the bronzes of the period often come much uglier and more worn than this example so it's a treat to find nice intact examples like this with clear(if confusing) monograms and all major details on the flan. Roman Republic Æ quadrans(6.10g, 20.5mm, 7h). OPEIMI(Opemius), 169-158 B.C., Rome mint. Head of hercules right; behind ••• /Prow right; above, OPEIMI; below, ROMA; before, •••. Crawford 188/4 As always, feel free to share anything relevant!
As promised, this is my triens of the other moneyer of this gens from this same period. You can just barely read the OPEI above the prow. It's not quite as nice as the quadrans above but you take what you get with these things Roman Republic Æ Triens(7.04g), "OPEI" series(Q. Opeimius?), 169-158 BC. Helmeted head of Minerva right; above, •••• / Prow right with peaked deck structure; OPEI above; •••• before; ROMA below. Crawford 190/3; Sydenham 363b; Babelon Opeimia 9; Russo RBW 813. Ex RBW Collection, Ex Goodman Collection, CNG 43 lot 1489, 9/24/1997
Thanks for sharing. That's a nice little group of quadrantes and I particularly like the one on the left with the ass on the deck. The animal is quite tall and generally near the periphery of the flan or even off of it so it often isn't quite so clear.
I have the sextans of the issue - ex Andrew's from a Roma auction in 2014. Prompted by your posting here, I looked on acsearch and see that it was in NAC 61 also, which I had forgotten or not known.
Nice catch, @red_spork ! I almost went after that one, then was traveling for the week. QUADRANS RR C Curiatius f Trigeminus 135 BCE Æ quadrans 18 mm 4.8g Rome Hd Hercules lionskin 3 plts - CCVR F ROMA prow Victory wreath 3 plts Cr 240-4a; Syd460b RR AE Quadrans 18mm 3.6g Rome 206-195 BC Hercules R wearing lions skin pellet behind - ROMA Prow of galley right 3 pellets Cr339-4a; Syd679c
That's an excellent example of the sextans. You don't often see sextantes from this late in RR coinage.
Thanks - though yours was a real find as not even identified! At least I'm happy I've found some earlier provenance for mine due to this post! ATB, Aidan.
