Two beautiful early Roman Republican silver coins won at Cayón.

These are probably my last purchases this spring, as my auction funds are running a bit dry. But I am very happy to end a very successful spring with these two types.

The auction format was interesting, with all lots ending at the exact same time (5pm local time), with an exception if a lot received a late bid, then the timer for that specific coin would reset at 10 minutes. This created the longest bid war I have had so far. Nearly 50 minutes of back and forth bidding with the timer resetting to 10 minutes for every bid made.

Back to the coins - I am very excited over the fact I will soon be holding my first ever Roman Republican Didrachm, and my favorite type among them with Roma/Victory.

I could have waited for a better centered specimen, but what made me go for the current one is the amount of crisp detail you don't usually get on these due to wear or worn dies. The obverse is particularly nice and sort of tipped the balance.

The second coin is a very scarce, unsigned corn ear series denarius, the design of Roma's helmet with a single big spike (referred to as the "Bastianelli spike" is quite unique, and specimens as good as this one very seldom show up for sale.

As a bonus @red_spork pointed me towards a nice provenance back to 1979 for the denarius, that Cayón did not mention.



Roman Republic. Circa 250-240 BC. AR Didrachm (6.50 g). Rome (or Neapolis?) mint.

Obverse: Head of Roma (or Diana) right, wearing Phrygian helmet; sword in scabbard with belt to left.

Reverse: Victory standing right attaching wreath to long palm frond; ROMANO upward to left, II to lower right.

Reference: Crawford 22/1.



Roman Republic. 211-208 BC. AR Denarius (4.37 g). Unsigned Corn-ear (second) series sibling. Mint in Sicily.

Obverse: Helmeted head of Roma right; X (mark of value) to left.

Reverse: The Dioscuri, each holding spear, on horseback right; two stars above; ROMA in exergue.

Reference: Crawford 68/1b.

Provenance: Schweizerischer Bankverein. Auktion 5 (16 October 1979), lot 338.


Ending this post with a little group image of the beautiful early Roman Republican coins I have managed to gather over the few years I have been collecting!

 

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..absolutely beautiful!...heck, those even impressed ol' Terrence Cheesman...

 

Wonderful coins and beautiful photos!

 

Wow super looking coins!

 

Beautiful coins! I hope they arrive quickly: the Roman Republican denarius I won at a Cayon Subastas auction in late February, mailed to me in mid-April after the export permit was obtained, has yet to arrive. And there's no way to track it, either: the US Postal Service does not track packages that originate in Spain. Perhaps, since I believe you're already in Europe, you'll have better luck.

 

All the coins, including of course the ones in the group picture, are superb but the didrachm is fabulous.

May I ask what is the attriution of this coin?


This is the first time I see it.

Edit - a semilitra, I thought it was also a silver denomination.

 

Thanks Donna!

It's been a while since I purchased something from Spain, but if I remember correctly, tracking worked all the way last time.

I will send an email to Cayón and ask if they can ship the coins through FedEx or DHL instead though.

 

Here's the attribution

Anonymous. Ca. 235-231 BC. Æ Half-Litra (12mm, 1.37 g, 7h). Rome mint.

Obverse: Head of Roma or Minerva(?) right, wearing Phrygian helmet.

Reverse: Dog standing right, left forepaw raised in pointing stance; ROMA in exergue.

Reference: Crawford 26/4.

Provenance: Heritage Auctions, Weekly auction 231923 (29 May 2019), Ex Goodman collection, Triton I (2 December 1997), lot 842; Ex Virgil Brand (1862-1926) collection, Part VII (Sotheby's , 25 October 1984, lot 478 (part of). Ex Niklovitz collection, Leo Hamburger (19 October 1925), lot 221.

 

Thanks, Michael and again congratulations for your superb coins. I edited my post earlier, I found the attribution myself (for some reason I thought it is also a silver coin, as I mentioned)