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Message:: [QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 8120646, member: 110350"]This list combines the top 8 RR's I had already selected, plus the top 4 vote-getters in the poll I put up a while back to choose the final 2 (see <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/help-me-choose-the-final-2-coins-for-my-roman-republican-top-10-list.390127/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/help-me-choose-the-final-2-coins-for-my-roman-republican-top-10-list.390127/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/help-me-choose-the-final-2-coins-for-my-roman-republican-top-10-list.390127/</a>): I decided that there was no real reason to add only two to the list, given that four different coins all received a good deal of support. Because there are more than 10, I'll have to spread them out over a few posts in this thread, and I can't put up another poll that includes all of them, but if you wish to comment on which 3 of the 12 you like best (or which 1, 2, or 4, or zero if you don't like any of them!), please feel free to do so. I also decided to include the original footnotes I wrote for 11 of these coins -- plus a new footnote for the one I purchased most recently (# 11 on the list), for which I hadn't yet posted a write-up -- just in case anyone wants to read what I had to say. Some of these footnotes are really, really long, so please don't hold that against me, and feel free just to look at the photos! Also, I'm putting all the footnotes in a smaller font, so they're faster to scroll past. (Despite the criticisms I've received from certain quarters for writing "encyclopedia articles," I think that at least some people must appreciate the write-ups, because out of my 26 so-called "featured articles" in my two years here, quite a few were this year, and most of those were probably about RR's.) OK, enough apologizing! Here are the 12 coins, in Crawford order: 1.  Roman Republic, M. Caecilius Q.f. Metelllus, AR Denarius, 127 BC (Crawford, RSC, Sear), ca. 126 BCE (Mattingly, op. cit. at p. 258, Table 3), Rome Mint. Obv. Head of Roma right in winged helmet, star on helmet flap, ROMA upwards behind, * (XVI ligature, mark of value = 16 asses) below chin / Rev. Macedonian shield, decorated with elephant head in center wearing bell, M METELLVS Q F around beginning at 6:00, all within laurel wreath. Crawford 263/1(a), Sydenham 480, RSC I Caecilia 29, Russo RBW 1064, Sear RCV I 139 (ill.). 19.5 mm., 3.80 g., 9 hr.* <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/m-caecilius-metullus-crawford-263-roma-macedonian-shield-with-elephant-at-center-jpg.1404790/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> *The coin is classified as Crawford 263/1a because the obverse "ROMA" legend goes upwards; the ROMA on 263/1b goes downwards. The moneyer was Consul in 115 BCE. The reverse design of a Macedonian shield encircled by a laurel wreath honors the moneyer's father, Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, who defeated the Macedonian pretender Andriscus in 148 BCE. See Crawford p. 288, Sear p. 99. Sear calls the coin “an early example of a moneyer commemorating his family history” (id.), and Mattingly states that the moneyer “broke new ground by honoring a living father.” (See Harold B. Mattingly, “Roman Republican Coinage ca. 150-90 B.C.,” in From Coins to History (2004), pp. 199-226 at p. 220 [emphasis in original].) The elephant head in the center of the shield, as with other coins of the Caecilii Metelli, recalls the victory of L. Caecilius Metellus, Cos. 251, over Hasdrubal at the Battle of Panormus in 250 BCE, and the capture of 100 of Hasdrubal’s elephants, which were paraded at Metullus’s triumph. See Crawford p. 288 (referencing the discussion on p. 287 of the symbolism of the elephant head on the reverse of Crawford 262); Mattingly p. 219 & n. 75. 2.  Roman Republic, P. Nerva, AR Denarius, Rome Mint, 113-112 BCE. Obv: Bust of Roma left wearing crested helmet with feather or aigrette (instead of wing) and single-drop earring, holding shield (ornamented with image of horseman galloping) against left shoulder with left hand, and spear over right shoulder with right hand, crescent moon above, star (*) [= monogrammed XVI; mark of value] before; behind, ROMA upwards / Rev. Voting scene inside Comitium in Forum: one togate voter to left of pons [bridge/walkway to place for depositing ballot tablet] receives ballot from attendant below; another togate voter to right of pons drops ballot in cista (voting basket); two lines behind voting scene and bar near top of reverse (described as “screen” by Sear) mark off voting area (denoting the barrier dividing a given tribe’s enclosure [saepta] from those allotted to different tribes), with bar or screen surmounted by marker/tabella inscribed with the initial “P” (possibly representing a particular voting tribe); P • NERVA [NE ligate] across field beneath bar (or beneath top of screen per Sear). Crawford 292/1; BMCRR II Italy 526 (at p. 274); RSC I [Babelon] Licinia 7 (ill.); Sear RCV I 169 (ill.); Sydenham 548; Yarrow 4.40 at p. 195 (ill.) [Liv Mariah Yarrow, The Roman Republic to 49 BCE: Using Coins as Sources (2021)]. 17.21 mm., 3.87 g., 7 h. David R. Sear Certificate of Authenticity,  May 2, 2013, No. 811CY/RR/A/CR (issued to Steve Peterson, noting “flan flaw on edge of reverse not affecting the type”).*  Purchased at JAZ Numismatics Auction # 186, Lot 4, June 2021; ex. J.B. DePew Collection; ex. Steve Peterson Collection; ex. CNG Auction 295, Jan. 30, 2013, Lot 361; ex. Bruce R. Brace Collection.** <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/p-nerva-roma-voting-scene-cng-image-jpg.1404791/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> [ATTACH=full]1413912[/ATTACH] *David Sear describes this issue as “[o]ne of the most celebrated types of the entire Republican coinage,” depicting “the actual voting process in the political assembly of the Roman People in the Comitium, where citizens voted on business presented to them by magistrates. The area occupied by the Comitium was consecrated ground, like a temple, and was located in front of the Senate House [Curia] in the forum.” Sear RCV I at p. 105; see also Sear Certificate; Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby, London, 1990), entry for “Comitium” at p. 64: “From coire, ‘go together,’ the name of the area on the edge of the Forum at Rome which was used as a place of public assembly and where elections took place (the plural, comitia, was used as the name of the assemblies which were held there). A denarius of 113-[11]2 BC [this issue] shows a voting scened in the Comitium, with a voter crossing a narrow walkway, the pons, to cast his vote without being observed.” See also the Sear Certificate, explaining that “[t]he pons was a bridge in the Comitium which voters had to cross in order to cast their ballots and it kept them from any potential interference”; Crawford p. 307 (“it is not clear what the purpose of the pons was if not to isolate the voters”). The standard view of the “P” on the marker or tablet surmounting the barrier or screen is that it represents the initial of a particular voting tribe. See Crawford Vol. I p. 307. For a different opinion, see E.E. Clain-Stefanelli, Life in Republican Rome on its Coinage (1999) at p. 16: “above to the right is a tablet inscribed with a P (provoco -- I appeal),” referring to the right of appeal in criminal proceedings; accord BMCRR II Italy p. 275 n. 2. Prof. Yarrow has yet a still different opinion: see Sec. 4.41 of her book at pp. 193-194, stating that electoral ballots as depicted on the Republican coinage (as opposed to ballots in criminal proceedings) “seem[] to be hinged-like representations of wax-writing tablets; one side of the tablet is inscribed with a P and the other has the initials (or space for the initials) of the candidate [citing, inter alia, the illustration of this coin at Fig. 4.40]. The P may resolve as pro, in the sense of a vote ‘for’ or ‘in support of’ the named candidate.” (This explanation may account for the fact that on less worn examples, the open “P” on the rectangular tablet or marker seems to be to the far left, with the remainder blank.) The moneyer is “presumably” Publius Licinius Nerva, Praetor in Sicily (i.e., its governor] in 104/103 BCE at the time of the Second Servile War. See Crawford I. p. 306; Sear Certificate; BMCRR II Italy p. 274 n. 2. The Sear Certificate states that “[t]he reason for Nerva’s selection of this type is not easy to establish, though it may refer back to a measure concerning enfranchisement carried by an ancestor of the moneyer’s as well as being a more contemporary reference to the Marian law of 119 BC by which the width of the pons was narrowed.” Crawford prefers the Marian explanation; see Vol I p. 307. ** Bruce R. Brace "was a scholar and by many considered to be a dean of Roman Numismatics in Canada. Coins from his extensive collection were sold by CNG in 2012 and 2013." <a href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/an..._ex_bruce_r_brace_library/630746/Default.aspx" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/an..._ex_bruce_r_brace_library/630746/Default.aspx" rel="nofollow">https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/an..._ex_bruce_r_brace_library/630746/Default.aspx</a> . According to Google, he was the former General Chairman of the Canadian Numismatic Association, the recipient of their J.D. Ferguson Award in 1984, and the former honorary curator of the McMaster University Museum of Art coin collection, at least a portion of which is now known as the Bruce R. Brace Coin Collection. 3.   Roman Republic, M. Herennius, AR Denarius, Rome mint, 108-107 BCE. Obv. Diademed head of Pietas right, wearing single drop earring and pearl necklace, PIETAS (TA ligate) downward to left / Rev. Naked youth (one of the Catanaean brothers, Amphinomous or Anapias) running right and carrying his father on his shoulder to escape from erupting Mt. Etna, or Aeneas carrying his father Anchises to escape from defeated Troy, with his father looking back (towards Mt. Etna or Troy) and raising his right hand; M • HERENNI (HE ligate) downward to left, Control-mark • above C in lower right field.* Crawford 308/1b, RSC I Herennia 1a, Sear RCV I 185 (ill.), BMCRR 1258-1285 [No. 1261 has same control-mark], Sydenham 567a. RBW Collection 1149. 19mm, 4.0g, 7h. Purchased at JAZ Numismatics Auction # 181, Lot 6, April 2021; ex. Frederick B. Shore; ex. Stack’s Public Auction Sale, “A Collection of Ancient Roman Coins,” June 14-15, 1971, Lot 127, at p. 16 [not illustrated in plates] (see catalog at <a href="https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=516472" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=516472" rel="nofollow">https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=516472#</a>search).** <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/new-combined-dml-m-herennius-jpg.1404792/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> The 1971 Stack's auction listing, lot 127. Unfortunately, the lot isn't illustrated in the plates, but I have no doubt that the coin is really from this auction, given the matching control mark and the fact that the listing isn't something someone could have found through Google. The coin sold at the auction for $35 on an estimate of $20. I paid slightly more than that in the JAZ Numismatics Auction in which I purchased it! <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/stacks-june-14-1971-auction-m-herennius-cover-page-jpg.1305105/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/stacks-june-14-1971-auction-m-herennius-p-16-lot-127-jpg.1305106/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> * Crawford 308/1a and RSC Herennia 1 have the control-marks on the obverse; Crawford 308/1b and RSC Herennia 1a have the control-marks on the reverse. Only the letters of the Latin alphabet (right side up, upside down, sideways in each direction, and with dots in various positions around them) were used as control marks for Crawford 308 (both 1a and 1b). See Crawford Vol. I p. 317. According to Crawford, 308/1a has a total of 120/150 different obverse/reverse dies, and 308/1b has 126/158 (id.). There was only one die for each different control mark, with a handful of exceptions not relevant here (id.). Thus, each of the approximately 25 examples of the "• above C" control-mark for this type found at the CRRO Roman Republican Die Project pages for Crawford 308/1b, at <a href="http://numismatics.org/archives/ark...399#schaefer_clippings_output_308-1_rev_05_od" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/archives/ark...399#schaefer_clippings_output_308-1_rev_05_od" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/archives/ark...399#schaefer_clippings_output_308-1_rev_05_od</a>, appears to be a reverse die match to my specimen. **The moneyer “is presumably M. Herennius, Cos. 93.” Crawford p. 318. (But see Grueber, BMCRR p. 195 n. 2, rejecting that identification.) He may have been the son or otherwise a descendant of Herennius Siculus [the Latin word for “Sicilian”], a haruspex and friend of Caius Sempronius Gracchus, who was arrested after the latter’s death as part of the persecution of the populares, and famously committed suicide by smashing his head against a doorpost at the prison as a gesture of protest and of loyalty to his friend. See id., Valerius Maximus, ix. 12. § 6; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herennia_gens" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herennia_gens" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herennia_gens</a>. The obverse portrayal of Pietas is her very first depiction on a Roman coin. See Crawford Vol. II p. 866 (subject index); <a href="http://numismatics.org/crro/results?q=pietas;" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/crro/results?q=pietas;" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/crro/results?q=pietas;</a> Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby, London, 1990), entry for “Pietas” at p. 243 (“Pietas (in the form of a female head wearing a diadem) first appears on Roman coins c. 108 B.C. on a denarius of M. Herennius”). As Jones points out, the concept of pietas has “a wider sense than in modern English, covering not only one’s duty towards the gods but also towards the State and one’s family.” Id. All authorities agree that the scene on the reverse illustrates pietas, specifically filial pietas. There are, however, two possible identifications of the scene depicted -- namely, one of the Catanaean brothers rescuing his father from an eruption of Mt. Etna, or Aeneas rescuing his father Anchises from Troy. See, e.g., the Roma Numismatics summary at<a href="https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=277&lot=379" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=277&lot=379" rel="nofollow">https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=277&lot=379</a> : “There are two possible interpretations of this reverse design, each with merit. The first is that the moneyer M. Herennius, who perhaps had a connection with Sicily, chose to illustrate a local example of [Pietas]: the brothers Amphinomus and Anapias, who are supposed to have saved their parents from an eruption of Mt Etna by carrying them from danger on their shoulders. The second interpretation reaches back to the mythological founding of Rome; Aeneas, during the fall of Troy, carried his father Anchises from the burning ruins of the city. Romulus and Remus, the founders of the city of Rome, through their descendance from him, made Aeneas progenitor of the Roman people. Long before Virgil makes reference to ‘pious Aeneas’ in his Aeneid, the Roman concept of piety was threefold; duty to the gods, to one’s homeland and to one’s family, which neatly links the reverse type with the obverse on this coin.” The cases for the two alternatives are summarized in slightly more detail in Clark, Anna J., Divine Qualities, Cult and Community in Republican Rome (Oxford 2007) at pp. 155-156, discussing: <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/upload_2021-5-16_22-4-50-png.1305111/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/upload_2021-5-16_22-5-52-png.1305112/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Although Clark expresses no preference herself as to which interpretation is correct, the Catanaean (sometimes spelled Catanian or Katanian) brothers interpretation has always been the view of the overwhelming majority of authorities since it was first proposed by Jean Foy-Vaillant in 1703. See J. Vaillant, Nummi antiqui familiarum Romanorum (Amsterdam, 1703), pp. 485–486. In agreement in the next century were T. Mommsen, Geschichte des römischen Münzwesens (Berlin, 1860), pp. 565–567; and E. Babelon, Description historique et chronologique des monnaies de la république romaine, vulgairement appelées monnaies consulaires (Paris, 1885), vol. 2, pp. 538–539. More recently, Grueber in BMCRR, RSC, Crawford, and Sear all also identify the scene as showing one of the Catanaean brothers; none even mentions the possibility that Aeneas and Anchises were intended. Despite this near-unanimity, Clark specifically notes that to the extent the Catanaean brothers interpretation is founded on a proposed association between the Herennia gens and the island of Sicily, an association based in turn on the fact that Herennius Siculus (with Siculus meaning Sicilian) was possibly the moneyer’s father or other ancestor, such speculation on the moneyer’s Sicilian origins has been “increasingly discredited.” Thus, even Crawford, despite adopting the Catanaean brothers theory, states at Vol. I p. 318 that “ It is uncertain whether the moneyer was a descendant of Herennius Siculus the Haruspex and used the story of the Catanaean brothers to recall the loyalty of the Haruspex to C. Gracchus. . . . Herennius Siculus seems in any case despite his cognomen to have been Etruscan by origin . . ., and the type was doubtless chosen not for its Sicilian associations, but because the story of the Catanaean brothers provided a well-known example of pietas in action.” (Boldfaced emphasis added, citations omitted.) Crawford fails, however, to take the next logical step and address the question of why, given the absence of a Sicilian association, the Aeneas/Anchises story could not have served equally well as an example of pietas in action. Especially given that it is rather difficult to ignore the fact that there were two Catanaean brothers and their two parents in that story, but only one son and one parent portrayed on the M. Herennius coin -- just as in the story of Aeneas and his father. Nor does Grueber provide any strong evidence for the Sicilian association underlying the Catanaean brothers interpretation. See Grueber, BMCRR Vol. I p. 195 n. 2: “The Herennia gens appears to have been engaged in commerce, especially in the Sicilian and African trade and in the exportation of the silphium. It is not improbable that the family name originally came from Sicily.” “Not improbable” is not exactly a ringing endorsement. The most detailed presentation I have found in English in the secondary literature advocating the Aeneas/Anchises interpretation of the M. Herennius denarius (including the evidence that the moneyer was of Etruscan, not Sicilian origin) is made in a book by Jane DeRose Evans entitled The Art of Persuasion: Political Propaganda from Aeneas to Brutus (The University of Michigan Press, 1992) at pp. 35 and 37-39. Rather than attempt to summarize her arguments, I will reproduce the relevant portions of pp. 37-39 here. <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/upload_2021-5-16_22-8-54-png.1305114/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/upload_2021-5-16_22-9-50-png.1305115/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> To be continued. Please wait to decide which ones you like best until I have a chance to finish this entry and post the other 9 coins as well![/QUOTE]

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