New purchase - Yet another RRC 53/2

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Michael Stolt, Jan 24, 2020.

  1. Michael Stolt

    Michael Stolt Well-Known Member

    Made a little midnight purchase, a Sub-group C3 "Spearhead sibling" RRC 53/2. It will be sent to be professionally cleaned to hopefully remove most of the horn silver on it.


    [​IMG]

    Anonymous. Ca 209-208 BC. AR Denarius (4.36 g). Uncertain Apulian mint.

    Obverse: Helmeted head of Roma right; X (mark of value) behind.

    Reverse: The Dioscuri, each holding spear, on horseback right; two stars above; ROMA in exergue.

    Reference: Crawford 53/2 (Brinkman / Debernardi. Sub-group C3)

    Provenance: Ex Ahlström auktion 66, nr 1173.
     

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  3. Fugio1

    Fugio1 Well-Known Member

    Absolutely beautiful example. Well centered, relatively early die state on both obverse and reverse, and lovely style.

    I think I would call this group 5 (Using classification from my website) for two reasons: 1) Obverse style is most similar to the spearhead symbol sibling variety and 2) Almost fully exergual frame above ROMA on the reverse. Group 5 is the only variety that commonly has a fully or near fully exergual frame.

    Edit: @Michael Stolt your attribution to subgroup C3 is absolutely correct if the reference used was our Revue Numismatique 2018 article on 53/2 which used a slightly different classification nomenclature. I misread your post.
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2020
  4. Fugio1

    Fugio1 Well-Known Member

    Here is my RRC 53/2 group 5 coin. Obviously, not as nice as yours.
    53-2-G5.jpg
     
  5. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    Interesting post, and fantastic coin, @Michael Stolt ! I wonder, mine is Craw 53/2, but have a 190 BCE time frame. Curious to the Group... or perhaps this is completely misattributed?

    [​IMG]
    RR Anon 205-202 BCE AR den 20.9mm 3.7g Rome Hd Roma R X - Dioscuri riding spears, stars ROMA tablet Cr 53-2 Group 9
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2020
  6. Michael Stolt

    Michael Stolt Well-Known Member

    Thank you! Yes I use the article from the revue and of course your homepage when attributing these. The article is really enjoyable and an informative read. All and all I think it's a fantastic series that I'm really glad I discovered.

    I do have two (one is a Fourrée) that I have a little trouble attributing though. If you have time it would be really appreciated if you could take a look at them.

    The first one is what I believe to be a Group 4 (I dont remember in which sub group from the article I put it as I'm at work and have those notes on my computer at home). (20mm, 4.65 g)

    [​IMG]

    And the second one is this fourrée I stumbled upon at Artemide a while back. Imitating what I think is the Group 9 "elongated face" variation? (19mm, 3.42 g)

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Michael Stolt

    Michael Stolt Well-Known Member

    It does look like a group 9. It shares a lot of similarities with the fourrée I posted above.
     
    Alegandron likes this.
  8. Fugio1

    Fugio1 Well-Known Member

    You've attributed these correctly. The first one is indeed group 4 (RN grp C1 - large stars, elbow like a sideways "V") but with some very unusual attributes. The ROMA frame is simply 2 lines, top and bottom. There are similar group 5 coins but they never have a bottom line (to my knowledge). This is the only die that I have seen with this attribute. This is a spectacular example, and I think it was previously a Freeman and Sear coin (mail bid sale 8, lot 356).

    The fourrée is group 9, and probably sub-variety RN E1.

    On my to-do list is to update the website to incorporate a cross-reference between the original nomenclature of the website which is widely used for cataloging in the trade and some museums, and the Review Numismatique article nomenclature. Unfortunately the purposes of the two sources are different and there is not a clean mapping between them.
     
    Michael Stolt likes this.
  9. Fugio1

    Fugio1 Well-Known Member

    I agree with Michael. Your denarius is a prototypical 53/2 group 9. A very characteristic specimen. The dating is probably closer to c. 205-202, at the end of, or just following the 2nd Punic War.
     
    Alegandron likes this.
  10. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    Thank you very much.
     
  11. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    I appreciate the info, thanks!
     
    Michael Stolt likes this.
  12. Deposito

    Deposito New Member

    I had this coin in between Ahlstrom and Mike, I think it's been sold on again since then. After millennia resting in peace our ancient denarii are suddenly flying around the world every couple years
     
    Roman Collector likes this.
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