Silver Denarius of Sulla

Here is a recent purchase, a silver Denarius of the Dictator Sulla that was struck at Rome in 84-83 BC (SR-276)

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Without much prior knowledge of Sulla, I watched the "Julius Caesar" miniseries from 2003 recently, which made me hate Sulla's guts! Haven't yet bothered to see how historically accurate it was yet (I at least know that his death portrayal was BS), but it has influenced me toward hatred none-the-less!

Aside from Imperatorial, I do not know much about coins of the Republic. For instance, I did not know that coins were struck under Sulla bearing his name, so this is really interesting. Looks like a nice example as well!

 

Nice coin @Aethelred


L CORNELIUS SULLA & L MALIUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS CORNELIA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Helmeted head of Roma right, L MANLI PROQ
REVERSE: Triumphator in quadriga right, crowned by Victory, L SVLLA IMP in ex.
Rome 82 BC
3.9g, 17mm
Cr367/5; Cornelia39

 

Wonderful addition. Does it have some nicer toning than the photo doesn't show? Kinda looks like it.

 

I am red/green colorblind, so a lot of the toning is lost on me, and trying to capture toning in a photo is beyond anything I can hope to do. However, it does seem to have nice toning as far as I can tell.

 

..kool coin!...i managed to get a couple denarii this year of of this historically pivotal Roman

 

Very nice denarius ! But it was not struck at Rome. In 84-83 Sulla was not in Rome but in south Italy, preparing his troops for the storming of Rome which would take place in November 1 82 BC. It was struck by a military mint moving with Sulla, in Asia Minor or South Italy. There is no reference to Rome on this coin, no name Roma, no helmeted head of the Roma goddess.

 

Of the three silver issues attributed to Sulla, two bear his name. Your example is the scarcest of the two named issues, and I have yet to find one for my collection. The third one is anonymous.
"First Man in Rome" by Colleen McCullough tells the story of Marius with the subsequent rise of Sulla and his contemporaries, many of which struck coins in their own name. Although it is historical fiction, its base is factual. I enjoyed the read.
Here is my only coin of Sulla:

And here is the anonymous "Q" issue [NOT MY COIN] courtesy of CNG

 

Thank you for that clarification.

 

I'll post this example even though some here on CT think it to be fake. I'm not certain, but I haven't sent it off to be authenticated.

L CORNELIUS SULLA FELIX ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS CORNELIA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Diademed head of Venus right
REVERSE: Double cornucopiae; Q below
Rome 81 BC
3.77g, 19mm
Cr 375/2; Syd 755; Cornelia 33

 

I have the same coin. I find the most interesting feature the IMPER ITERU. Imperator again. I wonder how many times he was so declared by his troops.

 

@Bing It does have a "soft" look to it. It is hard to say from a photo of a photo, but what is your gut feeling?

 

My gut tells me "I don't know for sure". I'm 50/50 on it and that's why I haven't spent the money to have it authenticated. I had a nice Nero Sestertius I sent off to David Sear, it tuned out to be fake. This coin I have no idea where I purchased and I have had since 2015.

 

My one Sulla. Like many, I was first introduced to him by the Colleen McCullough 'First Man in Rome' series. Great set of books that add a lot of depth to these Republican figures and make them seem like real people again rather than just names printed on coins.

 

Just for education, do you have a photo of the Nero?

 

Sure


and another I sent off that was identified as fake

 

@Bing Is the Nero Tetradrachm of Antioch also fake?

 

Here is the annotation I have in my catalog:
Possible cast fake. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=1. REFUNDED (but still have coin)

When I try the link above, I get nothing.

 

As for the Nero sestertius, this is the annotation from my catalog:

Identified as possible 18th century cast forgery by David Sear. Purchase price refunded.

These coins were not purchased together or from the same seller.

 

It might look different in hand, but from the photos the tet looks quite convincing.