Today a couple of coins showed up from my favorite dealer. I recently shared the first one, a Janus-headed as from Sicily, but of the two this was the one I was most excited about because bronzes of this period in this quality don't come by often. This quadrans was struck under the moneyer Pinarius Natta, a moneyer of whom I've also got a denarius(image at end of post). Not much is known about the moneyer unfortunately, but he was moneyer during a very interesting period for Republican numismatists. The Roman Republic had gone through a period of about 15 years during which only bronze coinage was minted. This moneyer's issues were some of the first minted during the reintroduction of silver coinage circa 155 B.C. and though they were mostly minted in relatively large numbers(except for his exceedingly rare sextans), they tend to come heavily circulated and it is not often you find one in this condition, especially not with such great provenance. Roman Republic Æ quadrans(6.80g). "NAT" series(Pinarius Natta?), 155 B.C. Rome mint. Head of young Hercules right, wearing lion's skin headdress, ••• behind / NAT, prow of galley right, ••• below. ROMA below. Crawford 200/5; Russo RBW 863(this coin); Sydenham 383c; Babelon Pinaria 6 Ex RBW Collection, NAC 61, 10/5/2011, lot 859(unsold), ex Aes Rude sale 55, 1993 lot 139 Click to see this moneyer's denarius: Please feel free to post anything relevant
Thanks, Bing. I agree, this one is excellent quality and one I couldn't pass up. I feel like I got extremely lucky on it. I caught it within minutes of being posted to Vcoins and immediately got in contact with the dealer to arrange payment. Sometimes you see a coin and you just know and in this case I knew real quick that I needed it.
While finishing up my cataloging and documentation on this coin this morning I was reminded that the NAC image of this coin actually makes it look a bit different than mine, probably due to different lighting. Which image do you guys prefer? It's actually not green at all in-hand, just a nice dark brown.
Awesome!! => that's a sweet OP-score, red_spork (congrats) This is my only anonymous quadrans (yah I know, you've all seen it before, eh?)
I do not have a Natta... This is my only Quadrans...that is not AES Grave Roman Republic AE 28mm 19.2g Quadrans - Sicily mint 214-212 BCE Hercules-boar headress - Bull - ex RBW Sear 609; Crawford 72/7
That is a really cool and beautiful type I've been wanting to add to my collection for quite some time, I just keep getting outbid. One day! I have a handful of struck quadrantes myself but this one is my favorite.
Sweet example, Gandalf => but sadly, it sounds like red_spork and myself might be battlin' it out for next one of this coin-type?!! (yah, I love that coin type too and I've also been outbid on a few occasions) This is the one that got away ...
Much prefer your pics. I find the lighting of the NAC pic harsh on the coin. Outside of the colour not matching the actual colour of the coin, the NAC pic may highlight some of the details a bit better, but from yours I can better imagine the coin in hand.
Well, I am always a fan of the white background ... however, I am also a fan of photos that capture the true characteristics of the coin, so it is a toss-up for me (I wish you could show your sweet brown version with a white background and then it'd be an easy for me to pick)
I feel that some coins look better on black and some on white. It really depends on the coin color, darker coins should look better on white background and vice versa.
