Roman Republican No. 63: L. Papius Celsus (Juno Sospita/Wolf & Eagle)

Yours is a very nice example, @Alegandron, with more than enough of the eagle to have the scene make sense. I found 59 examples of the type on acsearch, and on about 10 of them, there's no eagle visible at all. Why anyone would even want an example without the eagle I can't understand, but one of them sold for $388 in a Bertolami auction in 2020:



A nice obverse and a nice wolf, but I don't think I'd want to buy it at all, never mind pay almost $400 for it.

 

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@DonnaML.......Very nice example Donna! You do have a very impressive collection!
Thanks for the Myth portrayed on the reverse I didn't know this...
Any plans to display your RR's on vertical stands?

 

Thanks. Sometimes I do, but to photograph the tray when it's on a stand I'd have to take the pictures through the plastic covering. Otherwise the coins might fall out of the tray!

 

I love your photo of your tray. Beautiful. I attempted this morning to take a single photo of my entire tray of 63 Roman Republican coins (ordered by Crawford number), this time by a window in natural light. A little better, I think, than the results yesterday.



All but one of the coins show the reverse side, as people should see if they click on the photo to enlarge it. The first person to identify the one coin with the obverse side up gets the satisfaction of a job well done!

 

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ro...n_horses_vf/1553071/Default.aspx.........Nice photo!...Including the cat hair

 

You win, and sorry about that! They're all over my apartment. I noticed it too late, of course, and was too lazy to take the photo all over again.

Ziggy is still as furry as ever, even at 15 1/2 years of age:

 

View attachment 1378185

All but one of the coins show the reverse side, as people should see if they click on the photo to enlarge it. The first person to identify the one coin with the obverse side up gets the satisfaction of a job well done![/QUOTE]

Plautius Plancus
47 BC

 

I looked some minutes at your last photo , you have very beautiful coins in your collection ! @DonnaML

 

Wow ! Donna, you've got a spectacular collection of RR coins . How long have you been working on this specialty ?

 

Thanks! About 3 years. Although I bought my very first one, issued by Ti. Veturius, back in the 1980s, at a coin show. Something about it appealed to me, even though I was a collector of British coins and historical medals at the time.



I believe I bought my first Roman Imperial at the same coin show:



But I didn't start collecting either category actively until 2017/2018.

 

@DonnaML Thank you Donna, for the interesting information, about the coin. It's interesting, to see, how the denarius changed, over the centuries, during the Republic, and during the Empire.

 

It's a type I've long admired and wanted, but it seems quite rare to find one with the entire reverse design -- particularly, both wings of the eagle -- present on the flan

I entirely agree - this is a fascinating legend and one needs as complete a depiction as possible.
This was one of my first Republican coins, bought in 1975.
Apologies for the poor photo



A bit more background on the legend, per a post from Jochen if
I remember correctly :

This legend occurs only in Dionysios of Halikarnassos and in a remark of Horace. Dionysios lived in the 2nd half of the 1st century B.C. and was in Rome from 30-7 B.C. He wrote a 20 volume history of Rome ('Antiquitates Romanae') until the beginning of the Punic War, 264, which is preserved in excerpts. In it he describes from a teleological point of view why Rome was destined to become ruler of the world. He is also known as Rhetor and has written for example a book about Demosthenes and 'On the position of words'. He was a representative of Atticism versus Asianism.

According to Dionysios the legend did not happen in Lanuvium, but in Lavinium. There is said to have been a group representing the legend. But this localization seems to be a mistake of the author. On the obv. of this coin Juno Sospita is depicted. She had its main place in Lanuvium, but not in Lavinium. Also the allusion to the legend of Horace (Hor. epod. 3, 27, 4) occurs shortly after the mention of Lanuvium. The confusion of the two places should not be surprising. Lanuvium and Lavinium were exchanged very often and even in important documents like his Fastes. The strong connection with Aeneas in the story of Dionysios can be explained well as an ingredient of the author, who did not miss the opportunity to decorate the legend. Dionysios attributes a great age to the legend, but we cannot regard this dating as reliable. The most likely reason for this aetiological myth was probably a group of statues whose significance had been lost ( Michael Krumme, Roman legends in ancient coinage, Hitzeroth 1995)

 

Thank you. I did! Unfortunately he isn't so well (chronic kidney disease), but he's holding on, and is still as cute and furry and lovable as ever.

 

That's an awesome new addition, Donna. It's a type that's high on my RR want list and yours is a VERY enviable example. If it were mine it would certainly be in my Top 10 list of the year.

I'd love to have more coins depicting Juno Sospita, but right now only have two:


ROMAN REPUBLIC. L. Papius.
AR Serrate Denarius. 3.92g, 18.8mm. Rome mint, 79 BC. Crawford 384/1, pl. LXVII, symbols 122; Sydenham 773. O: Head of Juno Sospita right; behind, coiled snake. R: Griffin leaping right; below, animal with raised tail (fox, ichneumon, or dog) crouched right; L • PAPI in exergue.
Ex E.E. Clain-Stefanelli Collection

COMMODUS
AR Denarius. 3.33g, 18mm. Rome mint, Autumn - Dec AD 177. RIC (Marcus Aurelius) 646; Cohen 270. O: L AVREL COMMODVS AVG GERM SARM, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: IVNONI SISPITAE TR P II IMP II COS P P, Juno Sospita, advancing right, brandishing javelin in right hand and holding shield in left; in front, snake.

 

Thanks. That's the first Imperial Juno Sospita I've ever seen. Very nice. Still the goat's skin headdress, but a standard kind of shield rather than the ancilia she holds on Republican coins.

 

Although I am a novice in RR coinage, I love the design on many RR coins.
But when seeing @DonnaML's Papius Celsus denarius I decided I need to get an example. I just love coins with mythical/epic reverses.
When studying the market for these, I noticed that examples where the reverse is full on flan are not exactly cheap.
However, Santa Claus has just managed to get one for me.


A little rough especially on the obverse but the reverse is good (not the full wolf but it's good as it is!). Particularly like the eagle's wing off the dotted border.