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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Fugio1, post: 4528625, member: 89970&quot;]Just received my one successful winning in the recent CNG 114 sale:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1121704[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="2">Obverse: Head of Ceres r.; C.MEMMIVS.CF downward on l.;</font></p><p><font size="2">Reverse:&nbsp; Trophy; naked kneeling captive with hands tied behind back beneath trophy; on l. IMPERATOR downward; C.MEMMIUS downward on r;</font></p><p><font size="2">19mm,&nbsp; 3.98 gm., 6h;</font></p><p><font size="2">Crawford 427/1;</font></p><p><font size="2">Provenance:&nbsp; CNG 114, Lot 608</font></p><p><br /></p><p>I was impressed with the coin’s delicate obverse style in the rendering of Ceres.&nbsp;&nbsp; I like old grey toning on silver coins.&nbsp; The toning on this example is highly desirable, much more so in-hand.&nbsp; The issue is also frequently found unevenly struck, obscuring some details.&nbsp; This coin appears to be fully struck.</p><p><br /></p><p>The moneyer is believed to be Gaius Memmius, who a few years later was Tribune of the Plebs in 54 BC.&nbsp; There is plenty of mystery about the moneyer and the historical significance of this issue.&nbsp; According to Crawford, the reverse recalls a victory in Bythinia and Pontus c. 58 BC of Memmius’ uncle&nbsp; (C. Memmius, Praetor 58, husband of Sulla’s daughter Fausta).&nbsp; Michael Harlan makes an argument that the event was more probably an earlier victory, probably in Spain by the moneyer’s father (C. Memmius, Quaestor 76, husband of Pompeia, sister of Pompey) or grandfather (C. Memmius, Praetor 103), and suggests some characteristics of the trophy point to a Spanish victory.&nbsp; The Memmius conferment as Imperator is not corroborated by prosopographic evidence, but a fragment of an inscription in stone was found in Cadiz Spain reading CMEMMIO / IMPERATO, lending credence to Harlan’s suggestion of a Spanish operation.</p><p><br /></p><p>Gaius Memmius also issued a second series of denarii with obverse Quirinus and reverse Ceres.&nbsp; I do not have an example of this coin.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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