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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2861091, member: 19463&quot;]The coin show Friday provided a RR coin that has been on my want list for some time.&nbsp; I usually avoid Roma / chariot coins (I have enough) but this coin has special features that made it wanted.&nbsp; First the chariot is being pulled by three horses rather than the usual two or four.&nbsp; This allows the rightmost horse to turn back as if talking to the pair.&nbsp; Different!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]681301[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Many Republican denarii use abbreviations but the reverse here has a single line with six highly abbreviated names separated by bold dots.&nbsp; This line has added interest from the inclusion of two examples of ligate letters (more than one letter formed in a monogram).&nbsp; The coin (assigned the date 111-110 BC) was issued by more than one mint official.&nbsp; Most interesting to me is that this same coin also exists with the second one shown on my coin listed first and the first one listed second.&nbsp; I hope someone here can post an example showing AP.CL (Appius Claudius) first.&nbsp; Mine begins with T for Titus and the ligature that has been read as MAL and MANL according to who you read.&nbsp; I just got the coin yesterday and have not researched it fully.&nbsp; Perhaps one of our RR fans can comment on the history of the change from Titus Mallius to Titus Manlius in the literature. Babelon used Mallius so listings of coins of the family like Seaby&#039;s <b>Roman Silver Coins </b>call this Mallia 2 even though the latest edition uses Manlius for our moneyer.&nbsp; The ligature could equally well be either. MAL is obvious but the extra N only requires retracing a few lines a second time (a reasonable thing to do in the language of ligatures). </p><p><br /></p><p>Another &#039;devlopment&#039; in scholarly study of the coin is the reading of the Q and ligature VR at the far right.&nbsp; Earlier students explained this as <i>quaestores urbani </i>but more recent ones allow a third official Quintus Urbinius.&nbsp; Again, I do not know the evidence leading to the change.&nbsp; Anyone? </p><p><br /></p><p>I have had for many years a very similar coin dated a year later than this by C. Claudius Pulcher.&nbsp; That will drive me to find out how he was related to our Appius Claudius and why the third horse was deleted.&nbsp; A good coin will force us to learn something besides what the thing cost and how much we can sell it for tomorrow.&nbsp; I have research to do. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]681314[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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