Featured Roman Republican Denarius No. 50: C. Calpurnius Piso L.f. Frugi

Thanks for the great writeup and coins, @Sulla80. Your C. Calpurnius Piso L.F. Frugi seems to be No. 318 or 319 in the Hersh 1976 corpus of die combinations:



Unfortunately, the reverse control-symbol seems to have worn down sufficiently that I can't tell whether it's a club/cucumber or a sideways trident! But, close enough.

@Marsyas Mike, @svessien, and @Volodya. in the midst of all the kerfuffling the last few days, you may not have noticed that I was able to determine the exact Hersh 1976 corpus numbers for your specimens of this type as well: No. 54 for @Marsyas Mike, No. 125 for @svessian, and Nos. 282, 166 & 470 for @Volodya. See the quoted descriptions in my comments above.

This is the key in Hersh 1976 to the codes for the various collections where specimens of particular numbers in the corpus are held:

 

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Thank you Donna

 

Wow, that is a very attractive Frugi, @DonnaML! I love the sword control symbol too. Mine is much more worn, but is one of my favorite RR denarii.

ROMAN REPUBLIC
AR Denarius. 3.72g, 17.6mm. Rome mint, 61 BC, C. Piso L.f. Frugi, moneyer. RBW 1481 (same dies); Babelon Calpurnia 29; Sydenham 876; C. Hersh, NC 1976, 439; Crawford 408/1b. O: Diademed and draped bust of Apollo left, caduceus over shoulder. R: Horseman, holding reins, on horse galloping right; ↓ (L, resembling an arrowhead, for 50) above; C PISO LF FRVG below.
Ex Eucharius Collection

 

Thanks @DonnaML, that's a fun reference to add to this coin. It is definitely Э• 319 (a bit more visible in hand than in the photo) which I was seeing as "Cyrillic ye or backward episilon - dot"

319 in Hersh's 1976 catalogue of die combinations which is Obverse die 262 with Reverse die 2087 from Hersh C. (1976). A Study of the Coinage of the Moneyer C. Calpurnius Piso L. F. Frugi. The Numismatic Chronicle (1966-),16 (136), 7-63.

 

I think citations for specific die combinations are always fun, on the rare occasions when one can find them. I didn't look closely -- that's obviously a retrograde epsilon - dot, not a sideways trident! Where did you find the two photos?

 

I cut the relevant dies from the plates in the citation you provided in the OP:
Hersh C. (1976). A Study of the Coinage of the Moneyer C. Calpurnius Piso L. F. Frugi. The Numismatic Chronicle (1966-),16 (136), 7-63.

 

@zumbly, I can easily see why that's one of your favorite RRs. I love the caduceus over Apollo's shoulder.

I notice that you already have the Hersh corpus number (439), but just in case you don't have a copy of the exact description, it's at the bottom of the page.



And I'm afraid that's the last one I have time to look up -- I did post the jstor link to the article, so it's easy enough to figure out by going through the lists of obverse or reverse dies for the particular "group" until you find a match, and then looking up the corresponding die, and the corpus number for the pair.

 

How silly of me -- I didn't ever look at the plates!

 

Yep, thanks, I did look it up in the Hersch paper for it. I'll take the opportunity to post my other example, also a favorite, and formerly from the collection of our old CoinTalk compadre stevex6.


ROMAN REPUBLIC
AR Denarius. 3.74g, 17.8mm. Rome mint, 61 BC. C. Piso L.f. Frugi, moneyer. Crawford 408/1b (O40/R56); C. Hersh, NC 1976, 238; Sydenham 866; Calpurnia 24d. O: Head of Apollo right, hair bound with fillet; wreath behind. R: Horseman galloping right, holding whip; C•PISO•L•F•FRV below.
Ex stevex6 Collection; Ex Bruce R. Brace Collection (CNG 295, 30 January 2013, lot 374)

 

That is a special Frugi!

 

Thank you Donna! I was always a bit uncertain about that attribution. For once I don't have an excuse, since my local library has Crawford (both volumes!) on the shelf.

 

A very nice coin and a wonderful write-up!

My only Frugi is the older (90 BC) issue. Apollo suffers from some die break herpes:

Roman Republic, moneyer: L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, AR denarius, 90 BC, Rome mint. Obv: laureate head of Apollo r.: control marks. Rev: L PISO FRVGI; horseman galloping r. with palm-branch; control mark CVI. 18mm, 3.77g. Ref: RRC 340/1.

 

Late to the party, but here is another from the same dies as Zumbly's.

 

The few that read my page may have noted I mentioned the rocking horse pose which is completely unnatural as was shown by the 19th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge's experiments in the photography of motion. As a photographer, I found this matter quite interesting both then and now. Muybridge's motion work came around the time he was acquitted of the killing of his wife's lover on the grounds of justifiable homicide. I always wondered, had he been convicted, how long it would have been before someone else realized that horses di not run this way. The legal system came through on the side of art and science. It might be noted that his legal bills were underwritten by Leland Stanford who was commissioning Muybridge to settle the horse question once and for all so one might also wonder how the case would have been resolved had there not been this patronage. This might seem out of place in a coin discussion but these coins do show that the Romans shared the erroneous belief of the 19th century that horses ran with this pose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge[/QUOTE]

Your comment reminded me of this US postage stamp of 1869 which also shows a horse in an unrealistic running pose and was widely criticized at the time. Seems likely Stanford was aware of it.

 

Sorry that meant to quote Doug Smith's post above but I messed it up somehow.

 

Nice, @DonnaML !

QUINARIUS

RR
L Calpurnius Piso Frugi
AR Quinarius
90 BCE - Social War
13 mm 1.93g 2 h
Rome Laureate head of Apollo right
uncertain symbol behind Victory advancing right holding wreath and palm
Cr 340-2 Calpurnia 13


DENARIUS


RR
Calpurnius Piso Frugi
90 BCE Social War
AR Denarius
CXXXII ROM-A monogram
Apollo Horseman - Marsic
S 235 Cr 340-1


RR
Calpurnius Piso Frugi
90 BCE Social
AR Den
Apollo Horseman
S 235 Cr 340-1

 

I’d love to own a denarius of the son, Caius Calpurnius Piso Frugi, as his coins have superior style and are slightly scarcer than his father’s coins.

So far, I only have the more common denarius of the father, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi:



Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right, Reverse: Horseman galloping right, long caduceus above, L. PISO FRVGI / T in two lines below. Weight: 3.92 grams. Diameter: 19.26 mm. Comments: Nice grade. Ex. Lodge Antiquities

I also own two other denarii from the Social War era in 90 BC:




Description
Q. Titius. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.91 g.) Rome mint, struck 90 BC Obv. Head of young Bacchus (or Liber) right, wearing ivy wreath. Rev. Pegasus springing right on tablet inscribed Q TITI. Crawford 34 About good VF, Beautiful old cabinet toning, iridescent around devices. Ex. Marti Classical Numismatics



4.04g Head of Mutinus Titinus right, hair in a winged diadem Pegasus springing from a platform inscribed "Q TITI" RSC Titia 1 Ex. Aegean Numismatics