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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Carausius, post: 2957446, member: 76440&quot;]I&#039;m not going to post a top 10 list for 2017, but I will share a few interesting, year-end acquisitions.&nbsp; First, some background:</p><p><br /></p><p>Following two devastating defeats by Hannibal in 218 and 217 BC, mounting defense costs and disrupted flow of raw materials took its toll on the Roman Republic.&nbsp; In response, from 217-215 BC, the Republic reduced its bronze coin weight standard from a nominally 1-pound As to a nominally 6-ounce As.&nbsp; I say &quot;nominally&quot; because the standards were really 10 and 5 ounces, respectfully, but that&#039;s unimportant.&nbsp; Further reductions would follow throughout the war with Hannibal.&nbsp; This initial, semi-libral reduction enabled striking of lower denomination bronze coins, in place of the low denomination Aes Grave that Rome mint had previously produced.&nbsp; Rome&#039;s mint continued to produce large denomination Aes Grave (As, Semis, Triens and Quadrans), along with the new, struck denominations.</p><p><br /></p><p>The largest series of semi-libral struck bronzes were standard &quot;prow&quot; types - Crawford 38 Series bronzes - consisting of Sextans, Uncia, Semuncia and Quartuncia.&nbsp; Inexplicably (I have a few theories that I&#039;m still researching), there was a much smaller, collateral series of struck bronzes bearing unusual, interesting types - Crawford&#039;s 39 Series bronzes - and consisting of Triens, Quadrans, Sextans, Uncia and Semuncia.</p><p><br /></p><p>Towards the end of 2017, I happily bought two semi-libral struck bronzes and one &quot;related&quot; bronze. Note that these coins are pre-denarius Republican Bronzes and are therefore considered &quot;coins of Italian type&quot; and subject to U.S. import restriction via the MoU with Italy; thus, the below stated provenances are important.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first coin is an AE Sextans of the larger Crawford 38 series:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]723225[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic</p><p>Anonymous Semilibral Series, 217-215 BC</p><p>AE Sextans (24.25 g; 31 mm)</p><p>Obv: Mercury wearing petastus facing left. Two pellets (mark-of-value).</p><p>Rev: Prow right; ROMA, above; two pellets (mark-of-value), below.</p><p>Reference: Crawford 38/5; Sydenham 85</p><p>Provenance: Ex Burgan Numismatique Auction (17 Nov 2017), Lot 102; ex E. Page Auction, Hotel Drouot (1972).</p><p><br /></p><p>The second coin is a scarce AE Quadrans of the &quot;collateral&quot; Crawford 39 series, which completes my collection of this fascinating series:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]723227[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic</p><p>Anonymous Semilibral Series, 217-215 BC</p><p>AE Quadrans (37.97g; 34mm)</p><p>Obv: Hercules wearing boar-skin headdress right; three pellets (mark of value) behind.</p><p>Rev: Bull leaping-over or crushing serpent: three pellets (mark of value), above; ROMA, below.</p><p>Reference: Crawford 39/2; Sydenham 94 (R4); BMCRR (Romano-Campanian) 113-</p><p>115.</p><p>Provenance: Ex Dr. W. Neussel Sen. (d. Dec. 1975) Collection [Peus Auction 420/421 (1 Nov 2017), Lot 65].</p><p><br /></p><p>The imagery on this second coin is unusual in that the motif of bull leaping-over or crushing serpent had not previously appeared on Roman money.&nbsp; There were depictions of standing bulls on aes signatum currency bars earlier in the century, and there was a leaping bull on a Wheel Series Aes Grave Semis, but it lacks the serpent:</p><p><br /></p><p>Interestingly, the bronze types used on the collateral, semilibral&nbsp; Crawford 39 series largely disappear from subsequent Roman bronze coinage, EXCEPT for the leaping-bull and serpent quadrans.&nbsp; A mint in Sicily would carry-on this type on a much lighter, post-semilibral standard.</p><p><br /></p><p>My third coin is an overstrike of the above-mentioned Sicilian issue.&nbsp; It is an anonymous example of the Corn-Ear Series which is missing the Corn-Ear symbol above the bull on the reverse.&nbsp; This &quot;no Corn-Ear&quot; variety was first written-up by Roberto Russo in Essays Hersh. This particular coin is overstruck on an Hieron II imitative Ptolemaic AE, and the outline of Zeus&#039;s hair is clearly visible on the reverse.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]723232[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic</p><p>Mint In Sicily</p><p>Corn-Ear Series (no corn ear), 214-212 BC</p><p>AE Quadrans (16.76 grams; 29 mm)</p><p>Obv: Hercules wearing boar-skin headdress right; three pellets (mark of value), behind.</p><p>Rev: Bull leaping-over or crushing serpent: three pellets (mark of value), above; ROMA, below.</p><p>Reference: Crawford 42/2var (no corn-ear); See R. Russo, &quot;Unpublished Roman Republican bronze coins&quot; (Essays Hersh, 1998), 29-30.</p><p>Undertype: Hieron II, imitative Ptolemy II Obol, 285-246 BC.</p><p>Provenance: Ex Agora Auction 70 (21 Nov 2017) Lot 194; ex RBW Collection duplicates (not in prior sales); ex P. Vecchi Auction 6 (14 Sep 1981) Lot 245.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I hope you find these new coins interesting.&nbsp; Please post anything relevant![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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