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<p>[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 8252832, member: 110350"]Wow, [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER]. Spectacular. How in the world did you get 14 photos into one post? Anyway, my eyes are bugging out like the wolf in the old Warner Brothers cartoon. The first two coins of M. Volteius are, and have been for some time, at the top of my "Holy Grail" list. That's one of the very best Cybele/lion biga coins I've seen in a long time, and the snake biga might be the best ever! I've been outbid a number of times for both, and pretty much all the ones I've seen offered at retail have been unappealing examples for way too much money.</p><p><br /></p><p>I will also please take your #s 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, & 12!</p><p><br /></p><p>I do have a few unusual animal bigas & quadrigas, although nothing comparable to yours either in quantity or quality.</p><p><br /></p><p>Goats:</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic, C. Renius, AR Denarius 138 BCE. Obv. Helmeted head of Roma right, X behind / Rev. Juno* in biga of goats right, holding scepter and reins in left hand and whip in right hand, C • RENI below goats, ROMA in exergue. RSC I Renia 1, Crawford 231/1, Sydenham 432, Sear RCV I 108 (ill.), BMCRR Rome 885. 17 mm., 3.8 g. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1454410[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>* RSC identifies her as Juno Caprotina. Crawford disagrees; Sear does not mention the theory.</p><p><br /></p><p>Stags:</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic, C.. Allius Bala, AR Denarius, 92 BCE, Rome mint. Obv.: Diademed female head (Diana?)* right, wearing necklace; BALA behind, control mark "R" below chin / Rev.: Diana in biga of stags right, holding sceptre and reins in left hand and flaming torch in right, with quiver over shoulder; control-mark (grasshopper) below stags; C•ALLI in exergue; all within laurel wreath. Crawford 336/1b; RSC I Aelia [Allia] 4 (ill.), Sear RCV I 221 (ill.), Sydenham 595, BMCRR 1742-1771 [no control-letter "R"]. 17 mm., 3.88 g.**</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1454411[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>* Varying identifications of obverse head: Crawford ("female head r., wearing diadem"); RSC I ("female head (Diana?)"); BMCRR (same); Sear RCV I ("female deity").</p><p><br /></p><p>** Moneyer otherwise unknown. See BMCRR p. 238 n. 2: "This type may refer to the annual festival in honor of Diana held on the Aventine, where her temple stood, and at which torch races occurred. . . . C. Allius Bala was apparently the first moneyer to introduce a symbol as a mint-mark in conjunction with a letter."</p><p><br /></p><p>Cupids:</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic, L. [Lucius] Julius L.f. Caesar, 103 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Head of Mars left wearing helmet with long crest, feather on side, and peaked visor; behind, CAESAR upwards; above, control-mark (retrograde open “P” with two dots, one above and one below) / Rev. Venus Genetrix driving biga of cupids left, holding scepter in right hand and reins with both hands; above reins, control-mark (same as on obverse); beneath cupids to left, lyre; in exergue, L•IVLI•L•F. Crawford 320/1, RSC I Julia 4 (ill.), Sydenham 593, Sear RCV I 198 (ill.), BMCRR 1405-1434 [<i>this control-mark not included; cf. 1430-1431, each with retrograde open “P” with only one dot as control-mark, one with dot above and the other with dot below</i>.] 16 mm., 3.83 g., 9 h.*</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1454412[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>*The moneyer, Lucius Julius Caesar, son of Lucius, was Consul in 90 BCE. (Crawford Vol. I p. 325.) Through his daughter Julia, he was Mark Antony’s maternal grandfather. (See Wikipedia; cf. Grueber, BMCRR p. 210 n. 1.) In addition, the moneyer was either the second cousin or the second cousin once removed of Julius Caesar: his grandfather, Sextus Julius Caesar, was either a brother or uncle of Julius Caesar’s grandfather, Gaius Julius Caesar. This was the first Roman coin on which the name CAESAR appeared. (However, in 129 BCE, another relative, named Sextus Julius Caesar, issued a coin [Crawford 258] on which the name CAISAR appeared, i.e., the same name with a different spelling.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse type, depicting Venus, “alludes to the descent of the Iuli from Venus by way of Aeneas and Ascanius-Iulus" (Crawford p. 325): Iulus, the legendary ancestor of the Iuli, was the son of Aeneas, who, in turn, was the son of Venus. The figure of Venus on the reverse is identified in RSC and BMCRR (but not in Crawford or Sear) as Venus Genetrix, i.e., Venus in her capacity as goddess of motherhood and as a generative force, specifically as ancestress of the <i>gens</i> Iulia and generally with respect to the Roman people. (Query, however, whether that term was commonly used at the time this coin was issued, as opposed to more than 50 years later after Julius Caesar’s dedication of the temple of Venus Genetrix in 46 BCE and the sculpting of a cult statue to her. The concept was also poeticized by Lucretius, long after the issuance of this coin. See <a href="http://archive1.village.virginia.edu/spw4s/RomanForum/GoogleEarth/AK_GE/AK_HTML/TS-060.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://archive1.village.virginia.edu/spw4s/RomanForum/GoogleEarth/AK_GE/AK_HTML/TS-060.html" rel="nofollow">http://archive1.village.virginia.edu/spw4s/RomanForum/GoogleEarth/AK_GE/AK_HTML/TS-060.html</a>.)</p><p><br /></p><p>According to Crawford, the lyre “is presumably explained by the links of the Iuli with Apollo.” (Id.) Similarly, according to Grueber, “the head of Mars on the obverse may point to past military successes gained by members of the family as well as to the mythical connection between that divinity and Venus.” (BMCRR p. 210 n. 1.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Crawford also explains at p. 325 that the control-marks are the letters of the Latin alphabet as far as S, either normally disposed or retrograde, alone or accompanied by one or two dots above, below, to the sides, and/or within the letters. The control marks are “invariably” the same on the obverse and reverse, and “[n]o pair of control-marks has more than one pair of dies.” In total, there are 92 obverse and 93 reverse dies. The two examples in the Schaefer Roman Republican die project of Crawford 320 with a retrograde open “P” with two dots, one above and one below -- and it took me a while to realize that the control-marks on mine were supposed to be reversed P's -- do appear to be die matches with this coin. (See p. 11 of the Crawford 320 die clippings in the RRDP.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Elephants:</p><p><br /></p><p>Trajan, AE Drachm, Year 15 (111/112 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate bust right, nude and with aegis on left shoulder, ΑΥΤ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ ϹЄΒ ΓЄΡΜ ΔΑΚΙΚ / Rev. Emperor (Trajan), laureate and togate, standing in elephant quadriga, right. holding eagle-tipped sceptre and branch; first three elephants with trunks turned down at end and fourth elephant with trunk turned up; in exergue, L IƐ (Year 15). RPC [<i>Roman Provincial Coinage</i>] Vol. III 4605.4 (2015); RPC Online at <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/4605.4" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/4605.4" rel="nofollow">https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/4605.4</a> ; Emmett 462.15 [Emmett, Keith, <i>Alexandrian Coins</i> (Lodi, WI, 2001)]; Dattari (Savio) 769 [Savio, A. ed., <i>Catalogo completo della collezione Dattari Numi Augg. Alexandrini</i> (Trieste, 2007)]; BMC 16 Alexandria 512 [Poole, Reginald Stuart, <i>A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 16, Alexandria</i> (London, 1892)]; Milne 669 at p. 19 [Milne, J.G., <i>Catalogue of Alexandrian Coins </i>(Oxford 1933, reprint with supplement by Colin M. Kraay, 1971)]. 33.5 mm., 21.26 g. <i>Purchased from Odysseus- Numismatique, Montpellier, France, June 2021.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1454417[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, although it's not a biga or quadriga, this coin definitely depicts an alternative means of transportation, plus it's one of my favorite coins and I will always take any opportunity to show it off:</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic, L Lucretius Trio, AR Denarius, 76 BCE. Obv. Laureate head of Neptune right, XXXIII above and trident behind/ Rev. Cupid (or Infant Genius) on dolphin right; L LVCRETIVS TRIO. Crawford 390/2, Sydenham 784, RSC I Lucretia 3, Sear RCV I 322 (ill.), Harlan, RRM I Ch. 16 at pp. 98, 100-103 [Michael Harlan, <i>Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins</i>, <i>81 BCE-64 BCE </i>(Vol. I) (2012)], BMCRR Rome 3247. 19 mm., 3.9 g.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1454433[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 8252832, member: 110350"]Wow, [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER]. Spectacular. How in the world did you get 14 photos into one post? Anyway, my eyes are bugging out like the wolf in the old Warner Brothers cartoon. The first two coins of M. Volteius are, and have been for some time, at the top of my "Holy Grail" list. That's one of the very best Cybele/lion biga coins I've seen in a long time, and the snake biga might be the best ever! I've been outbid a number of times for both, and pretty much all the ones I've seen offered at retail have been unappealing examples for way too much money. I will also please take your #s 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, & 12! I do have a few unusual animal bigas & quadrigas, although nothing comparable to yours either in quantity or quality. Goats: Roman Republic, C. Renius, AR Denarius 138 BCE. Obv. Helmeted head of Roma right, X behind / Rev. Juno* in biga of goats right, holding scepter and reins in left hand and whip in right hand, C • RENI below goats, ROMA in exergue. RSC I Renia 1, Crawford 231/1, Sydenham 432, Sear RCV I 108 (ill.), BMCRR Rome 885. 17 mm., 3.8 g. [ATTACH=full]1454410[/ATTACH] * RSC identifies her as Juno Caprotina. Crawford disagrees; Sear does not mention the theory. Stags: Roman Republic, C.. Allius Bala, AR Denarius, 92 BCE, Rome mint. Obv.: Diademed female head (Diana?)* right, wearing necklace; BALA behind, control mark "R" below chin / Rev.: Diana in biga of stags right, holding sceptre and reins in left hand and flaming torch in right, with quiver over shoulder; control-mark (grasshopper) below stags; C•ALLI in exergue; all within laurel wreath. Crawford 336/1b; RSC I Aelia [Allia] 4 (ill.), Sear RCV I 221 (ill.), Sydenham 595, BMCRR 1742-1771 [no control-letter "R"]. 17 mm., 3.88 g.** [ATTACH=full]1454411[/ATTACH] * Varying identifications of obverse head: Crawford ("female head r., wearing diadem"); RSC I ("female head (Diana?)"); BMCRR (same); Sear RCV I ("female deity"). ** Moneyer otherwise unknown. See BMCRR p. 238 n. 2: "This type may refer to the annual festival in honor of Diana held on the Aventine, where her temple stood, and at which torch races occurred. . . . C. Allius Bala was apparently the first moneyer to introduce a symbol as a mint-mark in conjunction with a letter." Cupids: Roman Republic, L. [Lucius] Julius L.f. Caesar, 103 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Head of Mars left wearing helmet with long crest, feather on side, and peaked visor; behind, CAESAR upwards; above, control-mark (retrograde open “P” with two dots, one above and one below) / Rev. Venus Genetrix driving biga of cupids left, holding scepter in right hand and reins with both hands; above reins, control-mark (same as on obverse); beneath cupids to left, lyre; in exergue, L•IVLI•L•F. Crawford 320/1, RSC I Julia 4 (ill.), Sydenham 593, Sear RCV I 198 (ill.), BMCRR 1405-1434 [[I]this control-mark not included; cf. 1430-1431, each with retrograde open “P” with only one dot as control-mark, one with dot above and the other with dot below[/I].] 16 mm., 3.83 g., 9 h.* [ATTACH=full]1454412[/ATTACH] *The moneyer, Lucius Julius Caesar, son of Lucius, was Consul in 90 BCE. (Crawford Vol. I p. 325.) Through his daughter Julia, he was Mark Antony’s maternal grandfather. (See Wikipedia; cf. Grueber, BMCRR p. 210 n. 1.) In addition, the moneyer was either the second cousin or the second cousin once removed of Julius Caesar: his grandfather, Sextus Julius Caesar, was either a brother or uncle of Julius Caesar’s grandfather, Gaius Julius Caesar. This was the first Roman coin on which the name CAESAR appeared. (However, in 129 BCE, another relative, named Sextus Julius Caesar, issued a coin [Crawford 258] on which the name CAISAR appeared, i.e., the same name with a different spelling.) The reverse type, depicting Venus, “alludes to the descent of the Iuli from Venus by way of Aeneas and Ascanius-Iulus" (Crawford p. 325): Iulus, the legendary ancestor of the Iuli, was the son of Aeneas, who, in turn, was the son of Venus. The figure of Venus on the reverse is identified in RSC and BMCRR (but not in Crawford or Sear) as Venus Genetrix, i.e., Venus in her capacity as goddess of motherhood and as a generative force, specifically as ancestress of the [I]gens[/I] Iulia and generally with respect to the Roman people. (Query, however, whether that term was commonly used at the time this coin was issued, as opposed to more than 50 years later after Julius Caesar’s dedication of the temple of Venus Genetrix in 46 BCE and the sculpting of a cult statue to her. The concept was also poeticized by Lucretius, long after the issuance of this coin. See [URL]http://archive1.village.virginia.edu/spw4s/RomanForum/GoogleEarth/AK_GE/AK_HTML/TS-060.html[/URL].) According to Crawford, the lyre “is presumably explained by the links of the Iuli with Apollo.” (Id.) Similarly, according to Grueber, “the head of Mars on the obverse may point to past military successes gained by members of the family as well as to the mythical connection between that divinity and Venus.” (BMCRR p. 210 n. 1.) Crawford also explains at p. 325 that the control-marks are the letters of the Latin alphabet as far as S, either normally disposed or retrograde, alone or accompanied by one or two dots above, below, to the sides, and/or within the letters. The control marks are “invariably” the same on the obverse and reverse, and “[n]o pair of control-marks has more than one pair of dies.” In total, there are 92 obverse and 93 reverse dies. The two examples in the Schaefer Roman Republican die project of Crawford 320 with a retrograde open “P” with two dots, one above and one below -- and it took me a while to realize that the control-marks on mine were supposed to be reversed P's -- do appear to be die matches with this coin. (See p. 11 of the Crawford 320 die clippings in the RRDP.) Elephants: Trajan, AE Drachm, Year 15 (111/112 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate bust right, nude and with aegis on left shoulder, ΑΥΤ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ ϹЄΒ ΓЄΡΜ ΔΑΚΙΚ / Rev. Emperor (Trajan), laureate and togate, standing in elephant quadriga, right. holding eagle-tipped sceptre and branch; first three elephants with trunks turned down at end and fourth elephant with trunk turned up; in exergue, L IƐ (Year 15). RPC [[I]Roman Provincial Coinage[/I]] Vol. III 4605.4 (2015); RPC Online at [URL]https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/4605.4[/URL] ; Emmett 462.15 [Emmett, Keith, [I]Alexandrian Coins[/I] (Lodi, WI, 2001)]; Dattari (Savio) 769 [Savio, A. ed., [I]Catalogo completo della collezione Dattari Numi Augg. Alexandrini[/I] (Trieste, 2007)]; BMC 16 Alexandria 512 [Poole, Reginald Stuart, [I]A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 16, Alexandria[/I] (London, 1892)]; Milne 669 at p. 19 [Milne, J.G., [I]Catalogue of Alexandrian Coins [/I](Oxford 1933, reprint with supplement by Colin M. Kraay, 1971)]. 33.5 mm., 21.26 g. [I]Purchased from Odysseus- Numismatique, Montpellier, France, June 2021.[/I] [ATTACH=full]1454417[/ATTACH] Finally, although it's not a biga or quadriga, this coin definitely depicts an alternative means of transportation, plus it's one of my favorite coins and I will always take any opportunity to show it off: Roman Republic, L Lucretius Trio, AR Denarius, 76 BCE. Obv. Laureate head of Neptune right, XXXIII above and trident behind/ Rev. Cupid (or Infant Genius) on dolphin right; L LVCRETIVS TRIO. Crawford 390/2, Sydenham 784, RSC I Lucretia 3, Sear RCV I 322 (ill.), Harlan, RRM I Ch. 16 at pp. 98, 100-103 [Michael Harlan, [I]Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins[/I], [I]81 BCE-64 BCE [/I](Vol. I) (2012)], BMCRR Rome 3247. 19 mm., 3.9 g. [ATTACH=full]1454433[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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