Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 4299385, member: 110350&quot;]And one more new member of my Republican zoo, joining the other animals today.</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic, P. Satrienus, AR Denarius, 77 BCE. Obv. Helmeted head of Mars right, control-numeral [[upside-down T]XXXVIIII = 89] behind/ Rev. She-wolf standing left with right front paw raised, ROMA above, P. SATRIE-NVS in two lines below. RSC I Satriena 1, Crawford 388/1b, Sear RCV I 319 (ill.). 18 mm., 3.87 g., 3 hr.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1094264[/ATTACH]</p><p>Some notes:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. I was a bit confused at first by the upside-down capital T at the beginning of the control-number on the obverse, until I realized that it was one of the original forms of &quot;L,&quot; meaning 50.&nbsp; See John Melville Jones, <i>A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins</i> (Seaby 1990) at p. 212 (listing the seven signs used in the Roman system of numerals, including &quot;L (originally [upside-down T] or [down-arrow]) = 50.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>2. According to Crawford (see Vol. I, No. 388, at pp. 403-404), &quot;the she-wolf of the Capitol, apparently portrayed here, . . . . has no original connection with the wolf that nursed Romulus and Remus . . . , but was perhaps adopted as a symbol of Rome after the defeat of those rebel Italians who likened Rome to a predatory wolf . . . ; if this is right, the type is perhaps anti-Italian in intention.&quot; (Citations omitted.) <i>Contra</i> RSC I at p. 86, stating that this type does, in fact, &quot;refer[] to the founding of Rome. Mars was the father of Romulus and Remus.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>3. It&#039;s getting crowded in my apartment with all these animals now that I never go out -- after all, my Republican zoo includes a bull, a snake, a lion, a griffin, a dolphin, a hound, a wounded boar, another snake, a Cretan goat, a domestic pig, and a she-wolf, plus a Pegasos, a race horse, and a war horse. Considering that I own only 17 Republican coins in total, that&#039;s a sizeable menagerie! Not to mention all the Philip I &amp; family and other animals in my Imperial zoo, including a couple of lions, a stag, an antelope, a hippo, a moose, a goat, and a panther. (Not even counting a stable-full of horses.) And even though I have only six ancient Greek coins, they collectively include an owl, two dolphins, two eagles, a Pegasos, and a regular horse. And then there are all the antiquities I have depicting animals! But they do keep me company, and they don&#039;t seem to bother my cat.</p><p><br /></p><p>4. For those considering having coins sent from overseas via DHL, it certainly seems to work well from the UK, without any customs delays.&nbsp; I purchased this coin from London Ancient Coins over the weekend, and they sent it off with DHL at 5:53 am London time on Monday morning (i.e., 11:53 pm Sunday night, New York time.) It arrived at the door of my apartment in New York City at 5:08 pm today, Tuesday -- i.e., 41 hours and 15 minutes later.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in