I picked up this AR Denarius which has an interesting control mark on the left side next to the trident which I have not been able to identify. The type of coin is as below, but there seem to be a lot of variations on this coin, which seems all to have been struck in 85bce. It appears to be an owl, or double something. Not sure, but due to the wide varieties, it seems the value can depend on which variation it is, along with the quality. Wide range of 120-1300 Euros for some of these. I happily got it on the low side of that. The photos don't quite highlight the detail on this coin as much as I'd like, especially on the bust side. I was not able to find much on this Julii family member, but it is interesting so much coinage featured him. Roman Republican, L. Julius Bursio, AR Denarius, 85 BC, Rome (No legend) Laureate, draped and winged bust of Genius (or Apollo Vejovis) right (attributes of Apollo, Mercury and Neptune) trident and bucranium in left field (No legend) Victory in fast quadriga right, reins in left hand, wreath upward in right, DV below L . IVLI . BVRSIO in exergue 20.8mm, 3.94g, Die axis 5.0 Julia 5b; Crawford 352/1c; Sydenham 728d
This issue came with an impressive variety of different obverse control symbols -- it appears there are several hundred obverse control symbols for this one issue! (See links toward the end.) There are lots of animal ones, but also daggers, axes, mythical creatures, body parts like a big disembodied ear (!), hand, etc. All those little symbols can be one of the most fun things about collecting Republican coins! Not sure what your symbol is. Looks a bit like two confronted owls standing. There's a single owl for that type, but it looks different. As far as value, I don't think they usually affect value much except (rarely) when there's something especially interesting or important about that one. But still neat. It's not unusual to discover that a certain symbol has never been documented before. My first stop (even before Crawford's vols.) would be the online Roman Republican Die Project by ANS & Richard Schaefer. It's very much still in progress, but looks like they've gotten to the point of classifying each die for the series (in public collections or in auction catalog photos assembled in the Schaefer Notebooks -- a great resource both for die study and provenance research). You can see many examples here on SITNAM (from American Numismatic Society), illustrating the huge range of symbols: http://numismatics.org/sitnam/results?q=bursio (261 specimens) Also from ANS, >1250 total specimens across "type a" & "c" (the SITNAM ones plus museum coins) in Coinage of the Roman Republic Online (CRRO). They have all the dies numbered at the bottom -- HUNDREDS of obverse dies -- so it may take a while to find your match... Not sure if yours is Crawford type 352.1a or 1c, but here are the pages with the "data" (i.e., photos of all the known specimens including their obverse control symbols): http://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-352.1a (719 specimens) http://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-352.1c (535 specimens)
... Continued... Not all Republican Denarii used control symbols at all. But this period has great ones -- maybe even the "golden age of the control symbol"? [Edit: Control marks used c. 126-63 (one in 44). See RBW's great article on "The Use of Die Marks on Roman Republican Coinage" (2012, Revue Belge de Numismatique 158, pp. 63-84); PDF avail from Liv Yarrow: https://brooklynsabbatical.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/witschonke-2012-die-marks-rbn.pdf From my collection, my favorite control symbol is probably the serpent-entwined-staff in the rev. exergue on this Censorinus Denarius (and less interesting CX above). (This one happens to be illustrated on the ANS websites mentioned in my comment above.) Roman Republican. C. Marcius Censorinus AR Denarius, Rome, 88 BCE. Obv: Laureate head of Apollo right. Ref: CX (above), C•CENSORI (below). Horse galloping right. Serpent entwined staff in exergue. Ref: Crawford 346/2b; RSC Marcia 19; Sydenham 714; ANS 1947.2.85 (same dies; LINK); British Museum 1843,0116.775 (same dies; LINK)... Prov: Bought for family coll. by my father, CSJ (online?); Ex Long Island Nov 2010 (?). This coin illustrated online: ANS SITNAM (f110ef9a); ANS CRRO 346-2b, page 6 (9th Row, middle = 266th coin); ANS RRDP / Schaefer Binder 11 (300-399), page 358 (Die-pair 64? 4th Column, 2nd Row). Like the "CX" (crescent X?) above, a lot of control symbols were just functional and rather boring. My L. Julius Caesar denarius below (not "the" Julius Caesar, but an ancestor) has boring ones on both sides. To make it extra boring, on this type they used the same symbol on both sides. Luckily it's a pretty entertaining scene otherwise (a flying Cupid-drawn carriage) with an interesting secondary device included (the lyre to left). This one appears in the Schaefer Binders twice (Sammlung Leo Benz & Kricheldorf 29, where Benz bought it), but when cataloging the Krich. 29 specimen, the dot was missed (i.e., "ꓘ" not "·ꓘ", totally forgivable using old catalog photos): Roman Republic. L. Julius L.f. Caesar (Moneyer, 103 BCE) AR Denarius (3.92g, 17mm, 12h). Rome, 103 BCE. Obv: CAESAR. Helmeted head of Mars, left, to left: ·ꓘ. Rev: B L·IVLI·L·F. Venus riding left in biga driven by winged Cupids, holding sceptre and reins, lyre below, above: ·ꓘ. Ref: Crawford 320/1 [ANS CRRO 320.1; this specimen not yet added to SITNAM or CRRO]. Pub: ANS RRDP, Schaefer Binder #19 (Processed, 300-399): pp. 119 (ꓘ) & 121 (·ꓘ). Prov: Ex Scipio Collection, Part III (Soler y Llach 1124 [23 Feb 22], 458); Leo Benz (1906-1996) Collection (Lanz 88 [23 Nov 98], 407; acq. Kricheldorf 29 [3 Mar 75], 249). As in the example above, even without interesting control symbols, the secondary devices in the design were often the most interesting part of Roman Republican Denarii. That was especially true in the earlier periods when the designs were much more rigid and allowed less room for creative variations (especially late in that period, when freedom opened for minor displays of individuality, as below). For the first 50-100 years of Denarii, only one a few basic reverse designs were permitted (first the Dioscuri and, later, also horse & chariot designs). Adding a small symbol (e.g., an animal) was the only opportunity for a bit of creative individuality. A favorite of mine appears on Antestia Denarii: a happy little running water dog (proto-poodle, coiffed with a "lion cut"?). Not a "control symbol," but a minor detail that becomes the most interesting thing about this coin type: Roman Republic. C. Antestius AR Denarius (3.81g, 19mm), Rome, 146 BCE. Obv: C•ANTESTI (ANTE ligate) to l. Head of Roma r., X below chin. Rev: ROMA in exergue. The Dioscuri holding spears, riding r.; dog running r., both fore-feet raised. Ref: Antestia 1; Craw 219/1e. Prov: Ex-Artemide Aste 11 (26 Jan 20), 236.
