I bought a prow left Sextans in the NAC auction May 25, 2020. It is the 3rd prow left coin I have bought in less than a year, and the most expensive. This is the first time I won an auction when there were 19 bids. The coin crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 2 weeks. Not bad for a trip from Zurich to Texas. The largest issue of cast bronze coins by Republican Rome had the prow (business end) of a warship on the reverse. Most were prow right. I do not know why some prows were pointed left, but there were enough prow left coins that Haeberline put then into 3 groups. Crawford followed suite and had three groups also: First Prow Left cast coins, 225 - 217 BC, wt std As = 270 grams - Cr 36: 1 - As; 2 - Semis; 3 - Triens; 4 - Quadrans; 5 - Sextans Second Prow Left cast coins, 217 - 215 BC wt std As = 132 grams - Cr 38: 1 - As; 2 - Semis; 3 - Triens; 4 - Quadrans; there were struck Sextans, Uncia, Semuncia and Quartuncia coins in this group. Third Prow Left cast coins, 215 - 212 BC wt std As = between 132 and 54 grams - Cr 41: 1 - Decussis; 2 - Quincussis; 3 - Tressis; 4 - Dupondius; 5 - As; 6 - Semis; 7 - Triens; 8 - Quadrans; there were struck Semis, Triens, Quadrans, Sextans, Uncia and Semuncia coins in this group. I find it interesting that Crawford put three series of coins in a short time window of 225 to 212 BC. The weight ranges for the coins overlap. All of the cast Sextans were in the first group. Roman Republic Cast Sextans circa 225-217, Æ Obv - Head of Mercury l.; below should be two pellets, but not on my coin. Rev - Prow l.; below, two pellets. 46.23 grams = 277 gram equivalent Ass 33.0 X 34.7 X 10.0 mm 12 h – most of the cast coins I have seen are medal turn, or the obverse and reverse have the same orientation. A few are orientated coin turn, 6h. Even less have 3h or other orientations. Brown green patina and very fine Very rare (seller's words) – I found 10 examples on line, including mine. Crawford 36/5, wt std – 270 grams Aes Grave 23 Sydenham 82 Vecchi 92 Thurlow-Vecchi 62, wt std = 256 grams RBW –. Historia Numorum Italy 341. Haeberlin p 55 – 56, plate 22, 17 – 20; wt range 34 – 54 grams; 45 examples; avg wt = 41.91 = 256 eq as Garrucci lists a Mercury / Prow Right coin, but no Prow Left. Kircheriano table 3a, #5B.
yes I collect Roman Republican coins, cast bronze from Italy that could have been money and Roman scale weights. I have concentrated on cast bronze for a couple of years. The feel of a big bronze coin is hard to beat.
I really don't know a whole lot about these cast coins. I have a couple for "type", and I was wondering if you could help me with the attribution of one. I posted this coin in an earlier thread. This is an Aes Grave semis, that I believe was produced in Rome between 241-235 BC. On the obverse is the head of Minerva facing left, with a horizontal S below. The reverse has a female head facing left, with a faint and crude horizontal S below. There is supposed to be a sickle to the right of the head, but I don't see any sign of one. The catalog/reference numbers that I have for this coin is Thurlow/Vecchi 37; Crawford 25/5; Haeberlin plate 31. The weight is 141.6 grams. Does that seem right to you? Thank you.
Nice coin. The write up looks good to me. I will find mine and post it. I bought one of these from Elsen a few years back. You can see a sickle on mine. The patina has cracked on mine and is smaller than yours, 100 grams.
I received a coin catalog from NAC today. It was like when the Sears Christmas wish book when I was a kid - Oh Boy. When I looked at the sale date it was 25 May 2020. The catalog took 3 months longer to travel from Italy to Texas than the coin posted above.
I got that catalogue recently as well - however, it was only posted on 9th September (mine, at any rate). I wonder if they made a mistake and sent these instead of catalogues for their upcoming sale? ATB, Aidan.
Mine had a Sept 17 post mark. I asked NAC about the catalogue and they replyed: With regard to the Spring Auction 2020 catalogue: we were unable to print and ship the catalogue in the spring, due to the COVID19 crisis when our printers were closed and courier services in many countries were seriously curtailed. Our trusted printers in Italy were finally able to produce the catalogues in August, for shipping in September. We are sorry for the delay, which was due to an unprecedented situation.
Ah - that explains it! I'm happy to have the catalogue - hopefully, there's another one coming! ATB, Aidan.
I have one prow left As Anonymous Cast Æ As. Rome, circa 225-217 BC. Laureate head of Janus Prow left, I above. ICC 105; Crawford 41/5a; Haeberlin pp. 119-122, 1-365 pl. 49, 1-21, 50, 1-28. 78.7g, 40mm, 12h.
