Newp: RR Sextans overstruck on Hieron II poseidon/trident bronze

I recently got back from a business trip to the big ol' state of Texas and the following coin was waiting for me, a Cr. 69/4 "Corn-ear KA" series sextans(you can see the remnants of the corn-ear/wheat ear just above the prow) from Sicily, overstruck on a Hieron II Poseidon/trident bronze from Syracuse. This series was struck near the end of the Second Punic War, a few years after the siege of Syracuse and in a very particular style unlike any other series of Republican bronze. Like this exampler these types almost always come overstruck on 3rd century BC Sicilian bronzes, generally from Syracuse. Below I've highlighted the remnants of the trident on the reverse and you can see remnants of Poseidon from the undertype on the obverse as well, but the orientation of the undertype's obverse is not entirely obvious.




Roman Republic Æ sextans(5.48g, 19mm), anonymous(corn-ear KA series), 207-206 B.C., Sicilian(Catania?) mint. Head of Mercury right; above, •• / Prow right with flat deck structure; above, corn-ear/wheat-ear; below, Roma; before, KA or IC ligate(off flan). Crawford 69/6. Overstruck on Hieron II Poseidon/Trident Æ, 275-215 B.C.

 

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Excellent!

 

on the chin of Mercury are the remnants of what I think is Poseidons headband, the curvy lines...
That should enable you to overlay an image and portray the donor obverse orientation ....
great coin.

 

What a beauty!

 

Very nice!

 

Your overstrike is amazing! I really love the history behind it!

Sporky and I had a very similar experience. We shared it in a PM together, so I will copy it here:

Several months ago I attended a coin show in Raleigh, NC. The dealer said it was a Janus head. He had NO CLUE as their were none this small... I snatched it us for $30 thinking nothing to lose.

19mm, 5.3g

I spoke with @ancientcoinguru and we noodled through it. Actually ACG NAILED it! I was going down rabbit holes chasing Italia coinage, and she was going after the Sicily issues. We concluded:

(I later purchased low cost versions of the coins so that I could verify)

"WOW, that may be it... little dolphin, Prow interference, but the trident struts would parallel the prow, so hazy, but not destroy the overstrike... Would the Hieron II be around 5g? 19mm (shows AE24 in attribute...)
YES>>>
A) Sicily, Syracuse, Hieron II, AE 19 mm., 5.72g, head of Poseidon left, rev. IEP-ÙNOÓ, trident flanked by dolphins, Ó[?] below (SNG Morcom 828 var.), dark green patina.
Obv. Diademed head of Poseidon left.
Rev. IEPΩNOΣ, Ornamented trident head flanked by two dolphins; below, N.



B) Anonymous.AE-Sextans, 5.21 g. Sicily, 211-208 BC.
Head of Mercury right wearing winged petasos; • • above. Rev. Prow of galley right; grain ear above, IC before, ROMA below.
Crawford 69/6b; Sydenham 310d; BMCRR 280.
Brown patina. EF. Surely one of the finest known specimen

That would work...

SOoooooo.....
1) Crawford 69/6 Sextans... ROMA below, Corn ear above 211-208 BCE;

2) overstruck:

3) Hieron II AE Trident 275-215 BCE;

4) Siege of Syracuse 214-212

5) 19mm / 5.3g would fit for both coins

Timing perfect

@red_spork and I concluded this was a fascinating time in Roman History... 2nd Punic War, Siege of Syracuse, overstrikes of coinage... it was a busy time!

 

Truly excellent examples guys!! Definitely fascinating coins with so much to tell...

 

whoa..that's cool....what an awesome mess.

 

Sweet!! => that's a gorgeous coin, red_spork (awesome addition)



I have a few cool examples as well (man, I'm very jealous of your new sweetie)

 

That is awesome!

 

Great work everyone! This makes the coin so much more interesting. Is there any literature on this?

 

Again => red_spork, I am totally jealous of your new cool over-strike addition!!



Ummm, hopefully I'm allowed to strut a couple of my favourite over-strikes from around this same era?

BOEOTIA, Federal Coinage (Overstrike), Æ18
Circa 220s BC
Diameter: 17.5 mm
Weight: 5.11 grams
Obverse: Head of Demeter or Kore (Persephone) three-quarter face right, wearing corn-wreath
Reverse: Poseidon, naked, standing left, resting right foot on rock and leaning on trident; to right, ΒΟΙΩΤ[ΩΝ] downward
Reference: BCD Boiotia 108 (this coin); HGC 4, 1182. VF, dark brown patina. Overstruck on Æ of Antigonos Gonatas of the type SNG Cop. 1214-1221
Other: 12h … the overstrikes are reversed on this coin, which is quite rare
Ex BCD Collection (Triton IX, 10 January 2006), lot 108

=> I love the horse wrapped around Kore's face!!



Anonymous. Overstruck Æ Triens
Canusium mint
206-195 BC
Diameter: 20 mm
Weight: 5.88 grams
Obverse: Helmeted head of Minerva right; four pellets above
Reverse: Prow right; [CA] to right, four pellets below
Reference: Crawford 100/3; Sydenham 309c; RBW 450
Other: 12h … VF, brown patina.
Overstruck on a “Zeus/man-headed bull” issue of Oiniadai, Akarnania (cf. BCD Akarnania 345-8)
From the RBW Collection. Ex Coin Galleries (20 August 1986), lot 117




... yah, these coin-types are amazingly cool, eh?

=> congrats for a third time, red_spork (I love your new coin)

... it would look lovely in my collection (I'm just sayin')

 

Of course you're allowed to share. Your triens is perhaps my favorite overstrike of all the ones posted here. Such a cool coin.

 

Charles Hersh wrote two papers on overstrikes and what they can tell us about coinage. They are both available on JSTOR but if you don't have access PM me and I can help. Andrew McCabe has some discussion of these overstrikes on his page covering this series here and also in his paper on Anonymous bronzes he discusses what he calls "Group H1" which is a series of Second Punic War-era Roman overstrikes on various types, unrelated to this one. Other than that I don't know of any one good source on overstrikes, just bits and pieces of discussion scattered across various references, auction catalogs and informational sites.

 

Can anyone tell me about a Hieron II with an upside down Trident?