Dating Roman Republican Coins; three coins from Grueber period VII, Series II

I have been interested in how experts date Roman Republican coins since I decided to focus my efforts on this series. There are no mint records from the time, and the coins are not easy to order by date or mint location. The British Museum has an extensive collection and from 1859 to 1869 Count de Salis worked to order the collection. In 1910 H A Grueber published "The Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum." He assigned the three coins below to the same time period, 99 to 95 BC. By the time E A Sydenham's "The Coinage of the Roman Republic" was published in 1952 the date range was changed to 125 to 120 BC. M H Crawford, " Roman Republican Coinage" dated the coins of L. Postumius Albinus and Marcus Opeimius in 131 BC and Marcus Metellus he dated 127 BC. Some parts of Crawford's dating have changed, but the RBW collection catalogue did not change these dates.
I received the top two in the mail today. The bottom coin arrived a couple of months ago. Most folks do not consider the portraits of Roma to be flattering, I agree. I asked a non collector today if she thought the obverse person was male or female. She guessed wrong.
I will revise this post to include attributions later.

 

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Maybe not flattering to us, but we are not in the aesthetic mindset of the ancient Romans. Those are three fabulous coin!

 

A set of Roma portraits on Republican coins might be interesting. On this M. Aemilius Lepidus issue dated just a little later (114-113 BC), she's looking a bit more feminine.

 

+1

 

Nice!! => wow, rrdenarius, those are very sweet examples (I think that chick is smokin' hot!!)



Ooow, I also have a pretty neat example of M. Caecilius Q.f. Q.n. Metellus

M. Caecilius Q.f. Q.n. Metellus
(Restored issue) AR Denarius
82-80 BC
Rome mint
Diameter: 18 mm
Weight: 3.85 grams
Obverse: Head of Apollo right, wearing taenia; mark of value below chin
Reverse: shield with elephant's head in central boss, surrounded by laurel wreath
Reference: Macedonian. Crawford 369/1; Sydenham 719; Caecilia 30

My example has Apollo on the obverse ...

Oh, your OP-coins "rock"

 

@stevex6 and @rrdenarius, can either of you tell me more about the M. Caecilius Q.f. Q.n. Metellus denarii? What does "restored issue" mean? Did that moneyer serve again 45-50 years later? That seems unlikely-- possible, but very unlikely. Was it struck by a family member with the same name? By someone unrelated? Why is it called a "restored" issue when the obverse is different?

I have one coin from the era in question and have recorded it as 131 BCE. It was an unattributed blind purchase in a large mixed lot. Initially I wasn't too keen on the coin but it has grown on me and will be staying in my collection .


Roman Republic, moneyer L. Postumius
131 BCE
AR denarius, 19 x 21 mm, 3.8 gm
Obv: helmeted head of Roma right; flamen's cap behind
Rev: Mars in quadriga right; L POSTA R; ROMA in exergue
Ref: Sydenham 472, Postumia 1, Sear5 128

 

It would stay in my collection as well. I love the color and the field symbols.

 

Gawd TIF, I didn't think I'd end-up getting a homework assignment (brutal!!)



... just jokes ...

My sweet restored example (from David Sear's Roman Coins and Their Values, Volume-I, page 127, coin 293)

... yah, I had to look-up "triumvirate"

 

Of my Roma heads, I consider this C. Pulcher most pleasing but still hardly what 2015 eyes would see as feminine. Of course when you see portraits of Cleopatra you might wonder just what Romans did consider attractive. I recall once long ago when it was OK to point out that someone had a Roman nose. Perhaps the phrase arose from coins.

 

Nice, here is my only Roman republic coin, a denarius with the head of Roma.



L. Flaminius Chilo. 109-108 BC. AR Denarius . Rome mint. Helmeted head of Roma right; X (mark of value) below chin / Victory driving galloping biga right, holding reins and wreath. Crawford 302/1; Sydenham 540; Flaminia 1.
19mm, 4.0g

 

This one has what I view as famine features:

L COSCONIUS MF ROMAN REPUBLIC
AR Denarius Serratus
OBVERSE: Helmeted head of Roma right, L . COSCO . M . F around, X behind
REVERSE: naked Celtic warrior (Bituitus), brandishing a spear & holding a shield & carnyx, driving a racing biga right, L LIC CN DOM in ex.
Struck at Rome, 118 BC
3.72g, 19.13mm
Cosconia.1. Cr.282 / 2

 

I actually really like that style portrait. It sort of reminds of a Picasso style portrait that hasn't been deconstructed yet.

Here's an interesting blockage from my collection that I bought specifically for that stylized portrait...on both sides!

 

Ummm, this is most likely my most feminine example of Roma (maybe because it's kinda worn so you can't see her dude-like features?!)

 

An attractive and "feminine" Roma head, feminine to my eye anyway.

 

Nice!! => yes Volodya, that is a far more feminine looking example ...

... certainly far sexier than my manly Roma-example shown below (hopefully she had a decent personality)



...

 

those are lovely coins rrd.

I'm embarrassed to say I don't have a republican with roma.

it's on the list for 2016.

 

What happened to make this coin exist? What is a blockage exactly? How is it that you got two faces?

 

"Blockage" was a typo. Carthago actually meant "Brockage". A brockage occurs when the previous coin sticks to the reverse die(the "top" one), which is struck by the hammer and moved between each strike, and is not removed before the next strike. When this occurs, the new coin's reverse, instead of getting the actual reverse design struck into it, is struck by the obverse of the previous coin, causing the reverse to become an incuse mirror image of the obverse.

 

Yeah, what Red said. Spell check doesn't account for numismatic terms well and typing with my thumbs on an iPad doesn't help!

 

Nice brockage, (note - spell check is telling me that I miss-spelled brockage). It is interesting that the * has straight line on the incuse side, but curved ones on the normal side.
I have several brockages. The first NAC coins I purchased were unsold brockages. I also have a really nice Augustus quinarius brockage. I like that the high point features are well preserved on a worn coin because they are the low points.