I really didn't expect to buy any more coins after I made my top 10 list but I couldn't resist this cute little denarius. I originally passed on it when I spotted it as I was bothered by the minor porosity and die rust, but it was surprisingly well priced(at a significant discount from either of the CNG sale prices), especially for the complete reverse legend and monogram, features which are surprisingly tough to get on examples of this type. After some urging by @Michael Stolt I finally hit that "buy it now" button and I'm pretty happy with it. Even with it's problems it'll be a tough example to really upgrade. As with many coins of the gens Postumia, this type depicts Diana on the obverse with her hound and a spear on the reverse. Diana makes regular appearances on the coins of the Postumii, and the family's association with the goddess of the hunt goes all the way back to the Roman Kingdom, well before Rome was the Mediterranean superpower it would have been circa 73 B.C. when this denarius was minted. At this time Rome was still vying for power over the tribes and villages around it. The Latin tribes joined with Rome to build a temple to Diana which they had decided to place in Rome, in imitation of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. As the story goes, a Sabine man had raised a massive and beautiful heifer which he intended to sacrifice at the temple. Soothsayers foretold that the state of the citizen who sacrificed this heifer would become the seat of an empire. As the Sabine approached the altar with his victim, a Roman priest who had heard the prophecy tricked the man, telling him he should cleanse himself in the Tiber before the sacrifice. When the man left, the priest promptly sacrificed the heifer to Diana, to the great satisfaction of the Roman people. This prophecy was fulfilled later, circa 498 or 496 B.C., shortly after the founding of the Roman Republic. The Romans expelled king Tarquinius Superbus, only to quickly find themselves at war with the Latin League, lead by their recently expelled monarch. In the face of this attempted invasion, the Romans appointed their consul, Aulus Postumius Albinus, to the role of dictator. The dictator-lead army of the Romans defeated the Latin League at the Battle of Lake Regillus and the Latin League abandoned the field and acknowledged the leadership of Rome. This was of course just one in a series of wars and battles that would see Rome's area of influence expand across the Mediterranean and beyond, but an important early milestone in their conquest and one that is not surprising to see commemorated on coinage. It is also believed that the early Dioscuri denarius reverses likely also refer to this battle, but that's a discussion for another time. Roman Republic AR Denarius(18mm, 3.81g, 7h). 73 B.C., Rome mint. Draped bust of Diana right, with bow and quiver over shoulder / Hound running right; spear below. C POSTVMI and TA monogram in exergue. Crawford 394/1a Ex Sayagaki, eBay, 19 December 2019, ex CNG e-Auction 449, 31 July 2019, lot 473, ex CNG e-Auction 319, 29 January 2014, lot 344, ex Ronald J Hansen Collection Here's a related coin from my own collection, and part of the reason I wanted this Roman type so bad: an Eraviscan imitation of it. You can read more about this one here. Imitations of Roman Republic, Eravisci, AR Denarius(18.6mm, 3.31g, 6h), circa 50-20 B.C., mint in modern-day Hungary. Imitating types of C. Postumius. Bust of diana right, bow and quiver on shoulder / Hound running right, spear below. POSTVMI TA(in ligature) in exergue. Freeman 24(this coin), dies 17/P; Davis Class B, Group II Pannonian, Eraviscan E15; cf. Crawford 394/1a for prototype Ex Agora 69, 26 September 2017, lot 1, ex RBW Collection, from a hoard partially published in 1998 in "A group of Eraviscan denarii" by Robert Freeman in "Coins of Macedonia and Rome: Essays in Honour of Charles Hersh" As always, feel free to share anything relevant!
That's lovely, @red_spork ! Nice acquisition with which to end the year! I like a Diana and dog scene: Gallienus, AD 153-268. Roman billon antoninianus. Mediolanum, AD 264-265. Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, Narrow radiate head right, both ribbons behind. Rev: DIANA FELIX, Diana standing right, holding spear and bow; at foot, hound. Refs: RIC 473K; Göbl 1146m(2): Cohen/RSC 173; RCV 10197; Hunter pl. lxvi. Trajan Decius. AD 249-251. Roman provincial Æ 33 mm, 18.78 g. Cilicia, Tarsus, AD 249-251. Obv: ΑV ΚΑΙ Γ ΜЄϹ ΚVΙΝ ΔЄΚΙΟϹ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟϹ, Π Π, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rev: ΤΑΡϹΟV ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛЄΩϹ Γ Β, Α Μ Κ. Artemis standing right, drawing arrow from quiver and holding bow and arrow; at feet on either side, deer standing left and dog running right with raised paws, head left. Refs: RPC 1346; SNG Levante 1156 ; SNG France 1754; SNG von Aulock 6065; SNG Cop 33; Ziegler 808.16.33; Lindgren III, 926.
Nice coins, this ia also one of my favorite coin types: here is my example: And here are four additional examples for Artemis/Diana with her hound (two ancients and two modern): Ephesos (Circa 50-27 BC) Jason, magistrate Obv.: Ε - Φ, Artemis advancing right, drawing arrow from quiver at shoulder and holding bow; hound at her feet Rev.: ΙΑΣΩΝ, Cock standing right with palm over wing within laurel wreath. AE, 10.88 g, 25 mm. Ref.: SNG Copenhagen 344 Faustina Junior Thrace, Augusta Traiana AE26 Obv.: ΦΑVСΤΕΙΝΑ СΕΒΑСΤΗ, draped bust of Faustina II right. Rev.: ΑVΓΟVСΤΗС ΤΡΑΙΑΝΗС, Artemis advancing, r., drawing arrow from quiver at shoulder, holding bow; to right, dog running right Ae, 10.05g, 26 mm Ref.: RPC Vol. 4, № 10333 (temporary), Mouchmov 2982 Counter Token by (Ernst Ludwig Sigmund ?) Lauer, Nuremberg, AD 1791 Obv.: LVD: XVI DG - FR. ET. NAV R , bust of Louis XVI facing right. Rev.: RECH PFENN / LAUER , Artemis/Diana walking with her dog on the dog leash, trees and bushes to the right AE, 1.53g, 21mm Ref.: Hennin Nr. 274. Pl. 26 - 31, 1791 Medal by Pierre-Alexandre Morlon 1878-1951 (Morlon created also the french circulating coins) Obv: UNION FEDERALE DES SOCIETES DE TIR AUX ARMES DE CHASSE, Artemis/Diana Standing right, holding bow, dog behind, signed MORLON Rev: CHAMPIONAT DE FRANCE BALL-TRAP “OLYMPIQUE” 1951, 2E Prix, ILE DE FRANCE (original design 1931)
Excellent Diana/hound coin type Here's mine, Plus some Diana Lucifera, and a Dianae Cons reverse for Gallienus Q
Diana Campania, CAPUA AE Uncia Attribution: SNG ANS 210 Date: 216-211 BC Obverse: Bust of Diana right, with bow and quiver over shoulder Reverse: Boar right, one pellet above, KAPV (retrograde) in exergue Size: 20.72 mm Weight: 6.56 grams 2nd Punic War - Hannibal promises Capua as Capital of Italia after Rome destroyed. Scarce RR C Hosidius C F Geta 68 BCE Diana bow quiver Boar Hound spear Sear 346 Craw 407-2 RR Allius Bala 92 BCE AR Den Diana Biga Stags Sear 221 Craw336-1 scarce RR Anon Half-Litra 235-230 BCE AE 11.1mm, 1.41g Obv: Head of Diana right, Phrygian Helmet Rev: Dog right w/ left foreleg raised; Roma in ex Sear 598 Craw 26-4
I love your skin and bones hound! And the Eravisci imitation is something else I've always had a soft spot for Diana as that was my grandmother's name...
A nice catch and interesting to have the paired RR & Eraviscan imitation - Congratulations! @shanxi - great gallery of diana with hound. Here's one of my coins of this type: C. Postumius, AR Denarius, 74 BC Obv: Bust of Diana r., bow and quiver over shoulder Rev: [C] POSTVMI Hound running r., below spear; TA or AT monogram in exergue Ref: Cr-394/1a, Syd-785, Postumia 9
I often find myself feeling I really need a coin as a pair with one I have. Official and imitation, plated and solid, overstruck and undertype, Rome and branch mint --- it all seems a conspiracy to make me buy more coins. Your two are so much more as a pair than just singly though bot, singly, are excellent coins. This would make a good thread someday: "Coin Pairs and Why They Need Each Other". I suspect we would find more different "why's" than we might first guess.
Diana and hound Macrinus, 217-218 AE28. Nicopolis ad Istrum AVT K OΠΠEΛ C-EVH MAKPINOC ["C-EVH" for Severus] Autokrater, Caesar Oppelius [part of his name, with two P's here] Severus Macrinus Diadumenian (under Macrinus, 217-218) at Marcianopolis. 25 mm. 8.22 grams. M OΠEΛ ΔION ANTΩNEINOC KAICAP Marcus Opelius [this time with one P] ......... Caesar
I'm totally new at this, but there appears to be some minor differences between these examples of Diana and hound coins. I see variation in the angle of the arrow quiver relative to the bow as well as the length of bow and quiver relative to one another. Also there are differences in how the hair from the upper head meets the hair from the lower as well as ear position. Would these differences be attributed to the use of different dies? I imagine some of the muddiness in some of the images could be attributed to an old worn die but the other variations makes me curious. Thanks for sharing!
This particular coin has two varieties that you can find in CRRO coinage of the roman republic online, and if you are interested in seeing the many die varieties - you can find them in Schaefer's notebook 6 pp 104, 106, 107, 112, and 113. My coin above is a obverse and reverse die match the these two coins labeled obv 7 and rev AH on page 104: You are also correct that wear on dies - along with die damage, strike differences, wear, and the ravages of time - can also all contribute to the differences seen between coins of the same type.
There are a lot of Republican coin types with more than 200 different dies for each of the obverse and reverse. Never mind all the possible combinations of those different dies! Here's my example of the Postumius Diana/Hound denarius: And here's a Diadumenian Tetrassarion from Nicopolis ad Istrum, showing Artemis on the reverse, hunting, with her hound jumping at her feet:
Here is my coin with the photo it came with: I think the die looks like this one in Schaefer's binder 6, page 113, C#394. I traced Schaefer's photo back to a 2004 auction. It may serve as an example to decipher his notes. Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG Auction 89 Lot 1917 3.87 g Now if I could only figure out my coin's recent history...
