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Message:: [QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 8059669, member: 110350"]These are fascinating. I'll defer to your expertise as to the two bearded pieces being coin weights. But it certainly seems reasonable to think that they're supposed to represent Silenos, especially given the close resemblance to the coin portrait.  Although I suppose it could be Pan. Were you told anything about their provenance? Have you tried doing research on similar artifacts? They do remind me a little bit of this Hellenic pottery mask of Silenos I have, although the style is quite different: Hellenistic molded Pottery Mask of Silenos, ca. 3rd century BCE, grapevines in hair, traces of original black and white pigment. 5" H. Purchased from Artemis Gallery, Colorado USA, May 31, 2011; ex. Collection of Harvey Sarner, Palm Springs, CA (1934-2007), acquired 1984: <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/hellenistic-pottery-mask-of-silenos-silenus-3rd-century-bce-jpg.1206155/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> I would assume that its purpose is decorative, unless it had some religious significance. It's certainly too small and fragile to serve as an actual mask! I have one coin which some authorities believe shows a mask of Silenus (to use the Roman spelling); others identify it as a mask of Pan. See the third footnote, advocating the former. Roman Republic, C. Vibius Varus, AR Denarius, 42 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Head of Bacchus (or Liber)* right, wearing earring and wreath of ivy and grapes / Rev. Spotted panther [leopard]** springing left towards garlanded altar on top of which lies a bearded mask of Silenus or Pan,*** and against which leans a thyrsus with fillet (ribbon); C • VIBIVS in exergue, VARVS upwards to right. Crawford 494/36, RSC I Vibia 24, Sydenahm 1138, BMCRR 4295, Sear RCV I 496. 17 mm., 3.60 g. Ex. Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG, Auction 83, May 20, 2015, Lot 83; ex. Frank Sternberg Auction 17, Zurich, May 1986, Lot 519. <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/vibius-varus-bacchus-panther-nac-2015-photo-jpg-image-jpg.1206089/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> *The identification of the obverse head as Bacchus or Liber is essentially immaterial. See Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby, London, 1990) at p. 33 (entry for “Bacchus”): “For the Romans . . . . [Bacchus] was generally identified with the Italian deity Liber, whose name is probably derived from the same root as the word ‘libation,’ suggesting that in Italy he was an earth or vegetation spirit who could be worshipped by pouring offerings upon the ground. . . . Bacchus appears rarely upon Roman imperial coins (and when he is given a name, he is called Liber). He is shown as a youthful male figure, nude or partly draped, perhaps with a wreath of ivy leaves. He may bear a thyrsus and be accompanied by Ariadne, a bacchant or maenad, or a panther.” ** [Omitting lengthy footnote arguing that "panthers" on ancient coins shown with visible spots were intended to portray big cats that we would identify as leopards, since the ancients were unquestionably familiar with them.] ***The mask has more frequently been identified with Pan than with Silenus, but because the moneyer’s branch of the gens Vibia lacks the cognomen “Pansa” (a reason for the appearance of Pan on the coins of moneyers with that cognomen, as a pun), Silenus appears to be a more likely identification, especially given the association of Silenus with Bacchus. See Jones, supra at p, 289, identifying Silenus as “[a]n elderly attendant of Bacchus.” See also id. at p. 234 (entry for “Pan”), noting that “[a] bearded head which appears on [the obverse of] a silver sestertius of T. Carisius [46 BC), with a reverse type of a panther bearing a thyrsus, has been identified as Pan but is more likely to be a Silenus, matching the Bacchic reverse type.”[/QUOTE]

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