(Just barely) Winning the race

I picked up this coin in the current Harlan J Berk Buy or Bid sale. I wasn't quite sure what it was when I initially saw it, except that by the style it wasn't the very common 44/5 it was identified as nor was it any of the other commonly seen anonymous issues. The excellent guide to anonymous denarii by Steve Brinkman and Pierluigi Debernardi quickly set me on the right track, however, and allowed me to identify it as a type the authors call RRC 46(a)/1. As I scrolled down, I actually saw the exact coin I was considering buying, pictured from an earlier Berk sale. That was really all the info I needed to confirm this was something really special. Knowing I probably wouldn't be the only one to spot this, I quickly hit that "buy" button. This was just in time apparently, as I later learned that another collector spotted this and tried to buy it right before I completed checkout, and two others said they would have purchased it without a second thought had they seen it earlier.

This coin is special for a number of reasons. First, the type is a relatively recent discovery, having been first published in the anonymous denarius guide linked above and then more recently in "The Orzivecchi Hoard and the Beginnings of the Denarius"(more about that later). Its recent discovery is directly related to the fact that it is exceedingly rare: as of writing, four examples, including this coin, are known from two die pairs. Of those examples, only two are in private hands. The type is stylistically similar and probably somehow related to the rare Crawford 46/1, hence the aforementioned guide's 46(a)/1 nomenclature, but its existence as a separate issue, rather than simply a stylistic variety is suggested by the fact that the two known die pairs of this issue have no known links to any variety of 46/1, which Pierluigi Debernardi has published a die study for, and that several details on these two die pairs differ from the known dies of the 46/1 issue(see the guide above for discussion of style). Most likely it is an issue either from the same field mint as 46/1, but perhaps separated chronologically and engraved by someone working from a different prototype.


Roman Republic AR Denarius(4.83g, 21mm, 10h). Anonymous. After 211 B.C. Uncertain mint. Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, X. Border of dots / Dioscuri galloping right; in linear frame, ROMA. Line border. Crawford -; Brinkman-Debernardi website 46(a)/1, example 2(this coin); Numismatic Chronicle 174(2014), "The Orzivecchi Hoard and the Beginnings of the Denarius", p. 85, fig 5.b(this coin)

Ex Harlan J Berk Buy or Bid Sale 210, 6 February 2020, lot 116, ex Harlan J Berk Buy or Bid Sale 121, 10 July 2001, lot 266

As mentioned above, this type was discussed in "The Orzivecchi Hoard and the Beginnings of the Denarius". Not only was the type discussed, but my coin was once again pictured there, along with the three other known examples of this type and I've reproduced the page here for those interested. As far as I know, this is the first coin I own to actually be pictured in the Numismatic Chronicle, which I thought was pretty cool.


As always, feel free to share anything relevant!

 

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Well spotted and well earned! What a fantastic addition to your collection.

 

Agreed, very cool

 

Nice looking coin!

 

I like the horsies.

 

This is very interesting. Thank you for sharing, and congrats with a great buy!
I’ve always been happy with classifying my few republican denarii according to Sear RCV I, but I realize I need to get the Crawford books. Only to confirm that my coin is one of the usual ones. But I’ll start with the excellent site you linked to. Thank you again!

 

Oh Look, more horsies. I like 'em.

 

Congratulation @red_spork - that is a great story and glad you pressed buy in time! I need a better word for a coin like this: mint, treasure, jewel, historic, rare...important.

 

Try. Horsieus Maximus.

 

That website is probably the best single page on the anonymous Roma/Dioscuri issues on the net. I think you'll find it helpful. As far as Crawford, I definitely recommend it if you plan to collect more of these types. At only $100 for the paperback reprint, it's much cheaper than it used to be.

 

Important is certainly how I'd describe it. One of my collection goals is to acquire as many styles of fully anonymous denarii and victoriati as possible, so snatching up these types that only appear once in a decade or so is a big priority. There are many more to go, and hopefully a few of them are types or varieties I don't even know exist today, but this is a big one to check off the list.

 

Fantastic coin, congrats.

 

Great coin. You must be very happy!

 

Great catch, @red_spork - you must be over the moon! I love the huge flan.

I would like to know which of the Brinkman groups are thought to be the earliest, but I haven't been able to figure this out. Maybe all the 44/5s? Maybe those with incuse and/or semi-incuse legends? Any others? (How early is your new one, do you think? Hard to tell with so few specimens known.) I would have thought that die link studies & hoards would have yielded some decent info on this question.

 

I don't think anyone knows, but I'll tag @Fugio1 as he is one of the authorities on these types. I believe that current thinking is that a handful of the early groups are basically contemporary, having arisen right around the time the denarius was introduced somewhere circa 214-211 B.C., and while there is some evidence that certain groups of Crawford 44 are earlier than others, there isn't any smoking gun to prove that a specific issue or variety is the absolute earliest.

 

@red_spork Sorry for delay in responding. The rest of my non-numismatic life is happening.

As you are aware, I saw this coin only minutes after you had pressed the buy button and was shaking trying to find the mouse, only to see that it was sold. I offered you 3 times the purchase price but wisely, you kept the coin.

This, and any of the other RRC 46/1 varieties are all relatively rare and unique. Obviously stylistically distinct (both obv. and rev.) from the more common RRC 44/5. This example is among the rarest of the sub-varieties. These have been my "White Whales" for some time now. You captured a great example.

As @red_spork suggested, there are quite a few early varieties that are believed to be about contemporary, including several issues from Sicily and unknown field mints during the 2nd Punic War. RRC 44/5 is generally believed to be among the earliest, but based on hoard evidence, the varieties with semi-incuse legends are thought to be earlier than the examples with legends in relief. This is also borne out by die link studies finding that RRC 44/5 groups 1, 3, and 4 are all die linked with and therefore struck at the same mint. Contrary to Crawford's assertions that the peaked visor coins (RRC 53/2 and similar) were contemporary with the splayed visor issues, there is ample subsequent evidence and scholarship suggesting that the earlier issues consistently have splayed visors.

RRC 46/1 and its sub-varieties are not well represented in hoards, but Crawford's placement and the overall general style similarities suggest placement of this issue early, roughly contemporary with RRC 44. I'd love to have any of the varieties. Here are some pics of some of the other variations. Note the obverse styles are very different but with unique similarities of the reverse style, especially the cape, and reverse die links exist between varieties as described here:
http://stevebrinkman.ancients.info/anonymous/C46_links.pdf

46/1 British Museum Example:


46/1(b) Berk Sale Sept, 1999

46/1(c) ANS Example

 

Thanks for the detailed reply, @Fugio1! I will have to put some more effort into getting a 44/5 from one of the first four groups, w/ semi-incuse legend. Is the rare, fully incuse 45/1 also thought to be early?

It's interesting to note that the earlier quadrigati also have incuse legends; I'm wondering if there's a connection here. (Also a small point in favour of putting the earliest denarii earlier than 211?)

Thank you so much for your efforts in helping the ordinary collector understand these varieties, and good luck on your quest for a 46(a)/1! At least your competition has now been reduced by 1.

 

Yes, I think it is uniformly believed that RRC 45/1 is among the > 30 different denarius, quinarius, sestertius, and Victoriatus issues noted by Crawford to date around 211 BC. These include both anonymous and symboled issues.

For my own collection, I have little hope of ever obtaining an example of RRC 45/1, given its popularity for collectors as being the only denarius with fully incuse legend available to collectors. The unique Bastianelli specimen of RRC 68/1b with fully incuse legend, also dated to about 211 BC, is in the British Museum, so... unavailable for us to own. RRC 68/1b is very common, but the phenomenon of this single fully incuse die is quite interesting. Here's an image:


There have been a few RRC 44/5 coins that have been marketed as fully incuse but all show some evidence of the characteristic semi-incuse depressions between letters.

 

( @Fugio1 @red_spork )

I've seen a few of these go for big prices over the last few months, but I finally picked up an example today, 55 euros for a rather bargain-bin piece. I'm pretty sure it's a group 2 (fairly long visor splayed outward, tail hangs somewhat down, demarcation lines [very prominent!] at visor line tips, larger riders than group 1):

I thought the lack of griffin tufts was a bit odd, but in perusing acsearch I have found a few either lacking them or where they're very faint and so could easily wear off on a well-loved example like mine. Here's one from Bertolami a few years ago that, while not a die-match, was surely engraved by the same hand:


I'm not sure which of the 2 subvarieties of group 2 mine is, though I would bet on the first (narrower head of Roma) illustrated as 44/5.3.

Since it seems groups 2 and 5 come from one mint, while groups 1, 3, and 4 come from another (given die link evidence), now I would like to get a group 1 coin. This is how the illness starts, isn't it? EADS, Early Anonymous Denarius Syndrome?

 

Huge cograts, @red_spork . I am not sure how I missed this great thread.