I have 115 Roman Republican coins at auction at the moment, in two batches, firstly, CNG112 closing tomorrow 11th September from midday US EDT: https://cngcoins.com/Search.aspx?PA...INER_TYPE_ID=2&IS_ADVANCED=1&ITEM_DESC=mccabe secondly, CNG e-452, closing next Wednesday 18th September from midday US EDT: https://cngcoins.com/Search.aspx?PA...INER_TYPE_ID=3&IS_ADVANCED=1&ITEM_DESC=mccabe There are some notable coins in both sales and I will point out five 1. One of only three known examples of Cr.35/3b aes grave trientes, from the JD, Banti and (likely) Haeberlin collections: https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=388022 Exceedingly rare, this Minerva head right RRC 35/3b triens is the only known example to be sold at auction. Haeberlin knew of only three examples of this type, see text volume, p. 57, and he illustrated just one. One is in Vienna (Plate 22, no. 14), one in Berlin, and a third was in Haeberlin's own collection, which he weighed at 79.57 grams. Given the weight match with this coin, this is very likely to be Haeberlin's own example. Haeberlin lists 392 examples of the head left RRC 35/3a and probably a thousand could be listed today, but for this RRC 35/3b type the count still remains at 3: Vienna, Berlin, and this coin. In addition to the obverse head facing right rather than left, all examples of RRC 35/3b also differ from RRC 35/3a in lacking a value mark on the obverse. This second design difference proves the head right type is not a casual or accidental variety but a different issue. I believe Haeberlin was right to associate this rarity with RRC 36 rather than RRC 35. A head right/prow right quadrans was also known in a single example (also on page 57) in the Kiev museum. That coin was apparently destroyed in the battle of Kiev in September 1941, leaving zero known examples (this latter information was written in old handwriting in my copy of Haeberlin). 2. Rarer Caesar portrait type illustrated in Alfoeldi 1974: https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=388104 Alföldi Type XIX, 141 (this coin illustrated on pl. CXLI, no. 37; dies A10/R1). Although the Maridianus type with crossed legends is relatively common, that with standing Venus is really rather rare - much rarer than the equivalent Buca, Mettius or Macer types. 3. Very rare Luceria aes grave semis: https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=389910 This is the only aes grave series with a location-based mintmark, L for Luceria (if one discounts the Cr.40 corn-ear type); both the cast as and semis from Luceria are very rare. 4. Exceptional "Venus of the Sewers" - Shrine of Venus Cloacina type https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=388089 The massive flan on this coin has enabled a remarkably full and detailed reverse strike on this coin. Venus Cloacina originally came from Etruscan mythology and was a spirit of a small stream called the Cloaca which ran through the early Roman Forum. Rome was city built on a marsh and the Cloaca stream drained into the Tiber. The Tarquins, early Kings of Rome dredged the stream and lined it with stone to make a drainage canal and eventually covered it over to become the main drain of Rome. The course of the original waterway and tributary streams dictated the layout of the buildings and streets of the Forum. The name Cloacina means “the Purifier”, and the word cloaca became the word for “drain” or “sewer”. In time Cloacina became the Goddess of Sewers the Cloaca Maxima. Sabine King Tatius attacked Rome after the famed abduction of the Sabine women but was reconciled to peace by the kidnapped women and the participants were purified with myrtle branches, a plant sacred to Venus. To commemorate the occasion, a statue of Venus Cloacina was put up in the Forum, called the Sacrum Cloacina in front of the Basilica Aemilia; directly above the Cloaca Maxima. Pliny says that before the shrine was built there had grown a sacred myrtle-tree on the spot. It was little more than a platform, eight feet in diameter, and that is what is shown on the coin. 5. Lanuvium story told via remarkable out-of-circle numismatic effect on a massive flan Papius denarius https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=389969 The celator used a remarkable story-telling device on a coin: the eagle in the Lanuvium foundation story comes from outside the reverse circle of die, as if from another world (the world of the gods). This is no accident as all dies of this type have the eagle half in and half out of “our world”. The story goes that when a fire broke out spontaneously in the forest, a wolf brought some dry wood in his mouth and threw it upon the fire, and an eagle fanned the flame with the motion of his wings, but a fox, after wetting his tail in the river, was trying to put it out. The wolf and eagle got the upper hand and the fox went away; the location of the fire became where Lanuvium was founded. A parallel can be seen in the early quadrigatus types – almost two centuries earlier – where the thunderbolt of Zeus clearly passes through the border circle. Thus, this is a coin-engraving visual device to show a gift of the gods that I don't recall having read about in numismatic literature. The nature of the strike on this coin makes this especially clear. The obverse type of Triumphus is also much scarcer than that with Juno Sospita, and again, in this instance, we have been lucky with strike as both a full legend and trophy are clear. thank you for reading and for looking Andrew McCabe https://cngcoins.com/Search.aspx?PA...INER_TYPE_ID=2&IS_ADVANCED=1&ITEM_DESC=mccabe https://cngcoins.com/Search.aspx?PA...INER_TYPE_ID=3&IS_ADVANCED=1&ITEM_DESC=mccabe
