M. Fonteius AR Denarius: Long shot win

I bid on a bunch of ancient/medieval Indian silver coins, and just for giggles I also put a somewhat low bid on a Roman coin ($100)...I've seen them on vcoins.com for like $200-$300 in this condition. Well, I lost all my Indian bids, even some that I bid ridiculously high amounts on (I guess the secret is out about Indian coins), and was surprised to discover I actually won the Roman. This is my 30th Roman silver coin.

Anyway. here she is. Got goats? Post them!

M. Fonteius. 87 B.C. AR denarius (19.87 mm, 3.93 g, 5 h). M· FONTEI C·F, laureate head of Apollo Vejovis right; monogram below chin, AP monogram below chin / Eros (or infant winged Genius) seated on goat right; caps of the Dioscuri above; filleted thyrsos below; all within laurel wreath. Crawford 353/1a; Sydenham 724; RSC Fonteia 9. Toned EF, Minor reverse die break.


You can even see the detail of the pupil in the eyes. It's a very sharp XF coin, with only minor high trace wear on the high points of the coin. I'm glad I got it now, because I almost bought this same type on several occasions over the last few months, and none of the other examples were anywhere as sharp as this one despite costing about the same.

 

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I love these cute little goat coins . Nice pickup!

 

Nice! It's an iconic RR denarius, absolutely a must-have, and you found yourself a real winner!

 

Good score man!

 

Excellent! That one was on my bid list as well but I got lucky on the first two lots I bid on and exhausted my budget. That's a very attractive example for the price.

I do have one of this moneyer's other varieties however. As you can see it is of a different style and the legends are a bit different:

 

I like those tiny goats too. Yours looks very nice.

 

Good acquisition, price and condition.

 

Nice coin Bing. What is the symbol underneath the chin on the obverse bust? RA? I see mine has CF. Any reason for the different monograms?

 

The symbol is a ROMA monogram. There are 3 different variants of the obverse legend placement: CF to left, monogram to right(353/1a - my example & Bing's), CF and monogram to right(353/1b and extremely rare, only a handful known), and CF to right, no monogram(353/1c - this is correct Crawford attribution for yours). There is also a variebt with a completely different obverse legend of EX AP(from the public silver, basically) and no moneyer name, which I believe MZ has an example of.

 

It's a lovely coin. Nice toning and wonderful rendition of Apollo (some may not appreciate the style). Honestly, I dont like uber high grade coins. I appreciate how they change when worn. Yours is much nicer than most. Great find!

 

Well, I have a mix of coins ranging from aVF to gXF. They all have their merits and weaknesses, and none of them are going to be everyone's cup of tea. But that's why there are so many ancient coins. There's a coin out there for every taste.

 

This is exactly true. I have known many people over the years who care not one whit about the grade of a coin. Heck, there are those here who proudly advise of it. They want the coin and actually prefer that it be the lowest grade and price possible. But I have also known many who insist on just the highest grade possible and will pay whatever it takes to make that happen. Me, I just buy what has eye appeal. I dont care about grade, if it looks cool, it WILL be mine! The coin below is one of two known (so far). I dont care about the rarity, I dont care about the grade. It just spoke to me. It is dramatic. The other example came to market about 10 years ago, I wanted to buy it as it was better grade, but I balked at the $750 price tag. I should have bought it:

 

Oh my goat !
A very nice acquisition indeed

Here's my one and only goat


Valerian II, antoninianus Cologne mint, AD 257-258
VALERIANVS CAES, radiate and draped bust of Valerian junior right
IOVI CRESCENTI, Young Jupiter on back of goat Amalthea right
3.66 gr
Ref : RCV # 10731, Cohen #26

Q

 

Ken, what is this coin? Caracalla provincial obviously, but give us some more 411.

 

Caracalla, 198 – 217 AD
Æ29, Tarsus, Cilicia, 18.2 grams
Obverse: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust as seen from behind with shield.
Reverse: Artemis standing right with left knee on back of doe flailing on ground, left hand pulls head of doe back exposing neck, grasps dagger in right hand about to dispatch the animal. L in left field, D and K in right.

References:
Obverse die as SNG Levante 1056

Provenance:
Obtained from Steve Showers at San Francisco Bourse, about 1999, $120

Notes:
Submitted to David Sear many years ago. He was not able to find a published example and had never seen the reverse type before.

 

Nice RR @Sallent ! WElcome to the Dark Side of the Dark Side (RR's)


Mine was made with a Playdoh maker and squished the flan... cool

RR
Fonteius 85 BC
AR Denarius
Apollo, CF - ROMA monogram, thunderbolt
Cupid Goat Pilei inside Wreath
Sear 271 Craw 353-1a

 

You know how very much I love to hear others share this opinion! I even have a similar upgrade challenge coin which I saw offered for a high price but decided I did not need to own both.

Back to Fonteius: I am not thrilled by variations like whether the CF (son of Gaius) fit on one side of the die or had to push over onto the other. Die variations are for specialists. I'm not one when it comes to Fonteius goats. I like all variations equally in this case.

We sometimes refer to Roman Republican coins as the 'Family' coins because they were issued by big name Roman families. Some families only had one representative moneyer while others had several. While I might change my mind several times if I thought about it more I might have other candidates but the Fonteia family has several type I like issued by more than one member of the family. Here are some. Bing has a nicer one of the last. Have I missed other important ones?

 

LOL, thanks for the welcome, but I've been a member of the dark side of the dark side for a while. I believe this is my 8th Roman Republic denarius.

 

Oh, sorry. I have around 200, so it is fun seeing others share them. I felt you had a few more.

 

I have around 60 ancient/medieval silver coins. That's my entire collection. I've only been collecting ancients/medieval for a little under 11 months.

I wish I had hundreds of coins like some of you who have been collecting for many years. I suppose eventually I will. But you've got to start somewhere, right?