I considered bidding on this in the recent CNG e-auction of the rest of the RBW collection but ran out of money before it came up. It later popped up on Vcoins and because of the dealer's end of the year sale was priced for about 3 bucks more than the CNG price after fees so I decided not to let it slip by again. Even with the roughness, it's a fairly nice coin for the type and should be quite hefty at 30mm and 27g. I've shared both the CNG picture and the picture from NAC 61 as they seem to show the color quite differently and, without the coin in hand, I have no idea which is more correct. Traditionally, the moneyer is thought to be a "Spurius Afranius", not otherwise known, but Crawford argues that because there is no break or period in "SAFRA" it should not be taken as standing for "S. Afra" and instead should be seen as the moneyer's cognomen, not otherwise known outside of his coins. Roman Republic Æ as(30 mm, 27g). SAFRA(Spurius Afranius?) moneyer, 150 B.C. Rome mint. Laureate head of bearded Janus, I above / SAFRA, prow of galley right, dolphin to right. ROMA below. Crawford 206/2; Sydenham 389; Babelon Afrania 2. Ex. RBW(CNG e-auction 364 lot 127 December 2015, NAC 61 lot 882, October 2011, unsold), privately purchased from CNG, November 1992 Share any "SAFRA"s you may have or maybe a similar " second chance" coin.
Congratulations on your brown...uhm green...or whatever color it turns out to be, Roman Republic AE. That's a nice way to end the year.
Both CNG and NAC describe it as green. I'm hoping it's closer to the NAC picture but I predict it'll be darker.
Here is a SAFRA denarius: 18 mm. 3.81 grams. 150 BC Crawford 206/1. Sear 85 Victory driving biga right
Very cool addition, red_spork ... man, I love those great big sweet AE RR examples (very, very cool coin-type) Cheers ... congrats on scoring an awesome coin!!
I'm finally back from my holiday travels and have the coin in-hand and it turns out that it is green, in fact the NAC picture above is spot-on.
