I recently added a Second Punic War-era anonymous denarius to my collection to finish up my set of early denarius system silver denominations. 212 or 211 B.C. is generally regarded as the year of the introduction of the denarius but there were actually 4 new silver denominations issued as part of the new integrated denarius coinage system: the denarius, with mark of value X for 10 asses, the quinarius, with mark of value V for 5 asses, the sestertius with mark of value IIS for 2.5 asses, and the victoriatus with no mark of value which was minted to the weight standard of the Illyrian drachma and intended for use in commerce between the Romans and the Greek cities of Magna Graecia. Along with the picture of the coin, I've attached a group shot of the different denominations below for comparison as well as nice illustration of the variations in style that came about as a result of a number of different engravers cutting dies both in Rome as well as military mints in various parts of Italy and Sicily. Roman Republic AR Denarius(19.9mm, 3.87g, 4h). Anonymous("Crescent" series). Circa 207 B.C. Rome mint. Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, X. Border of dots / Dioscuri galloping right; above, crescent; in linear frame, ROMA. Line border. Crawford 57/2; Sydenham 265. Ex. RBW Collection, Ex. Paul Vecchi, 12/10/1988 Pictured below from left to right are: Cr. 57/2 "crescent" denarius, Rome mint, Cr. 70/1 anonymous victoriatus, Sicilian mint, Cr. 85/1a, "H" quinarius, Apulian mint, Cr. 44/7, anonymous sestertius, Rome mint
AWESOME GROUPING Spork!!! Well done! I believe I have all them from 212-211, but in varying levels of quality. WELL DONE!!! You nailed it!
Very educational, thank you! I never paid much attention to the republic but you all have really fired up my interest. John
Fantastic set of coins.... and an awesome presentation. The grouping is stunning!! Damn, I'm drooling so much I think I shorted out my keyboard
Excellent set of coins. My crescent, Cr. 137/1, is a bit later and not as nice Voloyda's. When I bought mine, I wondered about how to tell the differece in Cr 57/2 and Cr 137/1. I posted the question on RROME and the answer was: Cr 57/2 shows the back horses tail between the back legs of both horses, like yours. Cr 137/1 has a 3/4 frame around ROMA. You can see the coin in my blog - http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/2013/10/roman-republican-ar-denarius-anonymous.html
Sweet RRs. Heres my favorite of mine L. Appuleius Saturninus AR denarius Rome 104 B.C. Helmeted Roma head left bankers mark on check / Saturn in galloping quadriga right, pellet omega below, L.SATVRN in exergue. Cr. 317/3. ? Silver denarius, SRCV 95/1, Sydenham 411, Crawford 219/1e, RSC I Antestia 1, VF, Rome mint, weight 3.971g, maximum diameter 17.3mm, die axis 90o, 146 B.C.; obverse head of Roma right in winged helmet, C ANTESTI behind, X below chin; reverse Dioscuri riding right, puppy with both fore feet raised below, ROMA in a linear frame in ex, linear border
Excellent example you've got there, and a type I hope I can find in such nice condition one of these days. I actually recently read your discussion on RROME while cataloging this coin. I've also noticed another stylistic diagnostic of this type is that the Roma head is very similar, stylistically, to those of the "trident" series, Cr. 115/1, among others(although trident is the one that seems most similar).
