[ancients] An Unusual Mode of Transportation

Super post and coins. stevex6 - what a sweet selection you have there. Actually found a few that may work for this thread.

 

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showoff.

 

Traveling in style

 

I know someone who just acquired a nice example of that cupid denarius

 

Yippeee, the Cupid biga arrived today. Biga. Of Cupids.

Awesome.

At the risk of sounded totally girlie, isn't it adorable? Added to the "Unusual Modes of Transportation" set.

Here's a hasty picture. The iridescence is even better than shown here so I will keep trying to capture better images.



Roman Republic, L. Julius L. f. Caesar
103 BC
AR denarius, 17mm, 3.9 gm
Obv: Helmeted head of Mars left; CAESAR; ・J above
Rev: Venus Genetrix in chariot left, drawn by two Cupids; lyre to left; ・J above
Ref: Crawford 320/1.
Jencek E-auction 26, lot 58, 14 October 2014. Ex CNG XXXI lot 699, September 1994; ex RBW Collection

A bit about this moneyer, from CNG's archives:

Why Venus Genetrix?

The Julian family claimed descent from Venus through the Trojan exile Aeneas. As for the use of Cupid on this coin, Cupid/Eros is by some accounts the infant of Venus. I guess Venus was making the most of her children's gifts although one could argue that it's child abuse .

Regarding the ・J control marks, from a similar coin's description in a Goldberg auction:

The controls found on the denarii of L. Julius L.f. Caesar are the letters of the Latin alphabet (only through S) either alone or found accompanied by one or two pellets. The same control mark that is found on the obverse invariably appears on the reverse also, and no pair of controls has more than one pair of dies.

About the RBW Collection:

RBW curated an outstanding collection of Roman Republican coins, jumping from US coins to his first ancient coin in 1960. Like many of us, he was amazed that an ordinary person could own such an antiquity-- and for so little money! Next he bought a book-- Sydenham's work on coins of the Roman Republic-- and then he was hooked. Without coin collecting heirs, he decided to sell his collection late in life. The first part was offered by NAC in 2011.

The rest of his brief autobiography and a delightful introduction by Roberto Russo can be read in the NAC auction brochure. It's definitely worth a read.

 

I dare not use the term "adorable", but that is what heck of a coin TIF. You are getting into the big leagues here lately. I'm being left behind (sniff). Actually, I'm very happy for you. Great new coin.

 

That coin absolutely "rocks"!! (well done => super cute & very cool)


.... the lyre is also very cool

 

I want that coin!

 

Yeah, this was the coin I had in mind when I mentioned the type. It's the most striking version I've seen and obviously the provenance is great. I looked at it more than a few times but pre-cognition must have warned me not to bid on it . Congrats and don't work those Cupids too hard!

 

I had some headroom left on my bid* and was willing to go even higher. I'm glad we didn't have a bidding war

*I rarely pre-bid on coins but we had an impending weather event the night before and I wasn't sure I'd have electricity during the auction so I dropped a bid bomb on it the day before.

 

Oh, it wouldn't have been much of a war. I'm just glad I didn't run under that falling bomb.

 

OH MY ...THAT IS AWESOME!!! i've never seen anything like that...creepy, cute, and just a beauty...what great color also.

 

Fantastic! Your quick images are already far better than the auction images. A great acquisition indeed!

 

In the Republic there were some unusual ways to take a ride. Hop in your biga of snakes and go!

This type from 78 BC, moneyer M. Volteius.
Head of young Bacchus or Liber right (note the ivy wreath)
Ceres in a biga of snakes. Control symbol behind--this one a heron.
Sear 314. Crawford 385/3.

 

Your cupids arrived already? Dang I am still waiting on my coin. I hope it comes tomorrow otherwise I am waiting until next week.

I think this is the first time we have almost competed for the same coin! The auction house pictures truly didn't do it justice. Did it come with the tags from the previous auction?

 

No prior tags accompanied the coin.

I hope your coin arrives soon! Waiting and worrying are not fun.

 

Search algorithm fail

 

So TIF, I'm assuming that you ended-up buying that sweet "Men In Your Face" T-shirt?

 

Ha, good one. I can't even figure out the design on that Tshirt.

 

Here, you can put these stickers on it.



It's a magnificent coin, congratulations!