Sextus Pompey Denarius - My First After A Lucky (?) Bid

First off, Happy New Year's to you all. I hope you have a healthy & happy & coin-laden 2020.

At the end of 2019 I chanced on something out of my usual bottom-feeding price range. eBay "buy it now" auctions cause me a lot of anxiety - if it is a good deal, you got to act fast. But if it's something I know nothing about - most things, that is - I run the risk of getting a fake. When I spotted this auction at $49.99 buy-it-now, I thought it was worth a look:

"AUGUSTUS AR DENARIUS (27 BC - 14AD) GAIUS & LUCIUS CAESARS"

I figured it would be fake, or really, really ugly. I don't have a Gaius & Lucius denarius, but they are abundant and there are fakes. The seller appeared to be reliable and had a lot of other coins, some ancients with robust buy-it-now prices. But this one was not Augustus - instead it was this:



I didn't know what it was, but I thought that portrait looked like Pompey, so I started frantically ransacking the Internet for information, and the Forgery Network for fakes. After a few frantic minutes, I pulled the trigger. Here is full attribution, as I understand it:

Sextus Pompey Denarius
(42-40 B.C.)
Sicilian Mint
MAG•PIVS•IMP•ITER• , head of Pompey Magnus r. between lituus and capis / Neptune left, holding aplustre, foot on prow, with Anapias & Amphinomus, parents on shoulders, [PRÆF] above, CLAS•ET•O[RÆ] / [M]ARIT•E[X• S•C•]
(3.47 grams / 16 mm)
Crawford 511/3a; Pompeia 27; Sydenham 1344; BMCRR (Sicily) 7; RSC 17 (Pompey the Great); Sear CRI 334.

I think it's a genuine coin, but I am willing to be set straight. It has a lot of wear, but that portrait of Pompey sold me - banker's marks notwithstanding!



Show me your Sextus Pompeys or share your buy-it-now or end-of-year stories or whatever strikes your fancy.

 

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Looks authentic to me....from the photo.
Well done!

 

..me too....i hope it is for ole Mike...

 

I see nothing to make be believe it is not authentic. Here is my only Sextus Pempey:

SEXTUS POMPEY; GENS POMPEIA
AE As
OBVERSE: MAGN above laureate janiform head with features of Pompey the Great
REVERSE: PIVS above, IMP below, prow of galley right
Sicilian 43-36 BC
22.8g, 31mm
Syd 1044a, Cr479/1, Pompeia 20v, Cohen 16

 

My Sextus Pompeys:

 

Thank you all for your affirmations and for sharing those lovely Sextus Pompeys. I really need to get some more now - I have the fever!

 

Screaming deal on a very desirable coin and type I've been looking for myself for some time! BIG CONGRATS (looks legit to my amateur eyes as well)
I finally bought my first coin with Pompey's faced on it this year as well.
And it's timely bring the first of the new year


Sextus Pompey
Ӕ As. Spain or Sicily, 45 BC. Laureate head of Janus, with the features of Cn. Pompeius Magnus; [MGN] above / Prow right; [PIVS] above, IMP below. Crawford 479/1; CPP I 671. 19.23g, 28mm,

Fine.

Ex-Savoca

 

Mine is a fourree ex Charles Wolfe 30 years ago. I had to convince him I knew what a fourree was before he would sell it. This was one of my earlier fourrees after the group I bought from the Grant Edwards collection in the late 80's.

 

Congrats on the great find, @Marsyas Mike !

Here’s an ancestor:


RR Sextus Pompeius 137 BCE AR Den She-Wolf Rom Rem S112 Cr 235-1a



RImp Sextus Pompey 42-38 BC AE As Janus Pompey Magnus - Prow Sear 1394 Craw 479-1

 

Excellent acquisition

My pompeians


Cnaeus Pompey Jr, Denarius
Denarius minted in Corduba ? in 46-45 BC
M [POBLICI LEG] PRO PR, Helmeted head of Rome right
CN MAGNVS IMP, Spain standing right, presenting palm branch to a soldier (Pompey ?) standing left on a prow of galley
3.65 gr
Ref : HCRI # 48, RCV #1384, Cohen #1



Sextus Pompeius and Q. Nasidius, Denarius
Mint moving with Sextus Pompeius, Sicily, 42-39 BC
NEPTVNI, head of Pompey the great right, trident before head, dolphin below
Q.NASIDIVS at exergue, galley sailing right, star in upper field
3.92 gr
Ref : HCRI # 235, RCV # 1390, Crawford # 483/2, Sydenham # 1350, Cohen # 20
Ex Freeman & Sear, Ex Barry Feirstein collection (NAC auction # 42/279)
Ex Roma Numismatics



Sextus Pompey, As
As struck in Sicily c.43-36 BC
Head of Janus with features of Pompey the Great, MAGN above
Prow of galley right, PIVS IMP in field
16.57 gr
Ref : HCRI # 336, RCV #1394, Cohen #16

Q

 

Yours is better than the one I have and I paid close to $300 for it. You must have done something to please the gods.

 

Great win! The coins of sextus pompey are very desirable and expensive, you are lucky. I would like to post mine, but it was deemed a fake earlier this year. Major bummer.... But, i have a surprises which i can show somewhere next week, hopefully!

@Carausius @Cucumbor, your coins are amazing!! Just, wow!

 

Again, thank you so much for the kind words about an apparently pretty lucky bid. Wasting enormous amounts of time looking at eBay auctions sometimes pays off, but time wasted is time gone. Nothing like New Year's Day to provoke such pondering...

Just to show the hazards of eBay Buy-it-Now auctions, here is a Julius Domna denarius I got a while back - it is a well-documented fake. So I came to find, too late. It's rather pretty though, in a fakey way.

 

@Marsyas Mike - Congratulations on a proper attribution. Definitely NOT Augustus. Well played.

Mine is one of my favorite coins in my collection which I've shared before on CT. I call this type the Pompey Party Scene due to the festive reverse.



Provenance:

Sternberg November 29-30, 1974 Lot 6
Sotheby's February 19th, 1969 Lot 2 (200 GBP sold to Spink).
Ars Classica Auction XIII June 27-29, 1928 Lot 982

 

Spectacular, Carthago

 

Carthago, that is spectacular. So that's what all that missing detail on mine should look like !!!

 

Yes, but think of it this way. Look at all the ancient Romans who handled that coin and think of all the places that coin was and all the things it purchased before being dropped and lost. That other coin just hasn't seen that much.

 

Congrats on the score, Mike! That portrait is bold and unmistakable, despite the wear. Mine is similarly worn.


SEXTUS POMPEY
AR Denarius. 3.35g, 18.6mm. Sicilian mint (Katane?), circa 42-40 BC. Crawford 511/3a; RSC 17; HGC 2, 604 (R2). O: MAG PIVS IMP ITER, head of Pompey the Great between jug (capis) left [and lituus right]. R: PRAEF CLAS ET ORAE / MARIT EX S C, Neptune, nude but for chlamys in the back, standing left, right foot set on prow of ship; he holds aplustre in his outstretched right hand; Anapias and Amphinomus (the Catanaean brothers) flanking him, bearing their parents on their shoulders.

My other S. Pompey...


SEXTUS POMPEY
AR Denarius. 3.76g, 18.9mm. Sicily, 40-39 BC. Crawford 511/4; Sydenham 1348; Sear, Imperators 335. O: The Pharos of Messana surmounted by a statue of Neptune; in foreground, galley left adorned with legionary eagle, sceptre and trident; MAG PIVS IMP ITER around. R: Scylla left, wielding a rudder in both hands; PRÆF CLAS ET ORÆ MARIT EX SC around.
Ex Andrew McCabe Collection, privately purchased from John Jencek, 2011

 

I like both of those, zumbly. Wear of this sort is pretty much my favorite "look" - something about the evidence of use appeals to me. A few banker's marks makes it even better.

 

Mine too, appears to be a fouree (3.5 grams) but I purchased it knowing that as, although the coin has much wear, the image of Pompey is pretty good. Most of his coins seem to me to have been hurriedly struck and of poor quality. They are among the most commonly encountered banker marked denarii I have encountered and as the triumvirs closed in on Sextus Pompey I think they were turning out inferior coins because they had no choice to do otherwise.