The turning tides of the Second Punic War captured in an overstrike

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by red_spork, Sep 27, 2019.

  1. red_spork

    red_spork Triumvir monetalis

    One of my favorite collecting areas is the Second Punic War and out of the many coins struck during this period some of the most dramatic are the overstrikes. As the areas of influence of the main belligerents contracted and expanded and various areas were taken, lost and sometimes retaken we see all manner of overstrikes where one side overstrikes captured coins of the other, along with many examples of Roman-on-Roman overstrikes due to falling weight standards caused by the stresses of financing a war on so many fronts. I think the overstrike I'm sharing today is particularly striking(no pun intended) as it is a Roman type overstruck on a Punic type.

    This sextans comes from the series of coins struck by the Sardinian Praetors of 211-209 B.C.(there's actually a fourth "spearhead" type too but no one's certain when in the timeline it was struck). In this case the coin has an "MA" ligature to right of the prow, generally interpreted to be the mark of Publius Manlius Vulso, Praetor of Sardinia in 210 B.C.. These coins often show signs of overstriking but it's not always obvious what they're overstruck on, in fact none of my other Sardinian Praetor sextantes have decipherable undertypes. In this case, however, there's one really good hint as to what the undertype is: a star on Mercury's neck which tells us that the undertype is almost certainly a Sardo-Punic bronze with Tanit on the obverse and a bull with a large star above on the reverse, like this one(illustrated below). The Sardo-Punic undertype would likely have been struck just a tad earlier in the war, circa 215 B.C. as the Carthaginians were landing on Sardinia and attempting to take the island. The Carthaginians were, of course, ultimately unsuccessful in this attempt. These coins are fairly common so the Romans must have captured a considerable amount of bronze coinage during this fighting.

    I've illustrated the orientation of the undertype below to make the overstriking more obvious. The bottom coin is of course not mine but is one of the best examples I could find of the undertype. Figuring out how Tanit's head lines up with the reverse was a bit more difficult than figuring out the obverse due to the placement of the star but you can see a bit of Tanit's neck and chin at 6 o'clock in the photo of my coin. There's also a bit of Tanit's ear and earring visible just right of center on the reverse.


    OverstrikeIllustrated.jpg
    Roman Republic Æ Sextans(18mm, 3.24 g, 1h). Publius Manlius Vulso, Praetor of Sardinia, 210 BC. Sardinian mint. Head of Mercury right; above, two pellets / Prow right; above, ROMA; (MA) vertical to right; two pellets below. Crawford 64/6a; Sydenham 160c; Russo RBW 269-270
    Overstruck on Sardinia, Punic Occupation Tanit/Bull with star, cf SNG Copenhagen 387-388. For sextans with MA overstruck on Tanit/bull with star, cf Hersh, Overstrikes 17; Crawford, overstrikes 49
    Ex Andrew McCabe Collection, AM#1316-32, CNG e-auction 452, September 18 2019, lot 665, ex RBW Collection, ex Fallani Collection, Vecchi 3, September 13 1996, lot 175
    Both images copyright Classical Numismatic Group

    Also if anyone's interested a scan of this coin the last time it appeared at auction from Vecchi 3 in 1996:
    Vecchi3Scan.jpg

    As always, feel free to share anything related
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2019
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  3. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    WAY Cool. @red_spork ! I really like that overstrike. Nice find

    I believe I have the understrike coin (or close to it):

    Carthage 216-215 BCE Sardinia mint  AE 3.3g Tanit L - BULL stndg R CNP 377a.JPG
    Carthage 216-215 BCE Sardinia mint AE 3.3g Tanit L - BULL stndg R CNP 377a
     
  4. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    9BybX7TrEx4Gd5Xemy8Nz6MboAi3F2 (1).jpg

    Hey, here's a coin that contributes nicely to OP's post. My overstruck sextans.... but without the nice marks OP's has. Great thread.
     
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  5. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    I have the Praetor Vulso's Sextans. However, I am not sure that it is an overstrike, rather just a weak strike.

    RR Manlius Vulso AE Sextans 210 BCE Mercury Prow Cr 64-6b.jpg
    RR Manlius Vulso AE Sextans 210 BCE Mercury Prow Cr 64-6b
     
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  6. Curtisimo

    Curtisimo the Great(ish)

    Amazing post.
     
  7. Ryro

    Ryro Trying to remove supporter status

    Talk about a coin that tells one of the most singular and important stories of the early Romans ability to overcome any and all obstacles. And it's a beaut ta boot!

    Here are a couple RRs
    1279280F-895E-4F61-8281-3D2926BBBEA0.png
    Roman Republic AnonymousIssue
    Rome, 215-212 BCE. Æ Semuncia (18mm, 3.74g, 12h). Draped bust of Mercury r., wearing winged petasos. R/ Prow of galley r. Crawford 41/11; RBW 136. Green patina, near VF; ex: Frank Robinson
    94BDF135-A6BB-482B-B603-863D3BF302C3.png
    ANONYMOUS. Semuncia
    (Circa 217-215 BCE). Rome. Obv: Head of Mercury right, wearing winged petasus. Rev: ROMA. Prow of galley right. Crawford 38/7. Ex LANZ

    5.49 g. 20 mm
     
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  8. SeptimusT

    SeptimusT Well-Known Member

    That's a striking overstrike ;) Quite a beauty. Mine doesn't stand out quite as much, but I have a sextans overstruck on a Syracuse coin of Hiero II. These are true testaments to the chaos inflicted by what could be considered the first 'world war.'

    Overstruck Sextans.png
     
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  9. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    I have one if those Hieron II / Sicily Sextans overstrikes also. 2nd Punic War in Sicily. I posted this before:

    [​IMG]
    RR AE Sextans-Hieron II Overstrike 214-212 BCE S1211 Cr69-6
    At a show, a dealer had this labeled as a Janiform head!
    It was a Sextans size. @ancientcoinguru helped identify that this was an overstike over an Hieron II Trident. Both are Sextans (Sicily) sized

    Made from:

    Hieron II


    [​IMG]
    Sicily Syracuse Hieron II 275-215 BCE AE20 Poseidon Trident Dolphin

    Plus:

    Sextans


    [​IMG]
    B) Anonymous.AE-Sextans, 5.21 g. Sicily, 211-208 BC.
    Head of Mercury right wearing winged petasos; • • above. Rev. Prow of galley right; grain ear above, IC before, ROMA below.
    Crawford 69/6b; Sydenham 310d; BMCRR 280
     
  10. red_spork

    red_spork Triumvir monetalis

    This "semuncia" is actually a corn(grain)-ear KA series sextans, Crawford 69/6a like this:
    Cr69.6combined.JPG

    This one is also an overstrike on a Hieron II poseidon/trident bronze. You can see the remains of the trident at 7 o clock on the reverse
     
  11. Carthago

    Carthago Does this look infected to you?

    Neat coin and congratulations on figuring out the undertype. I've always found overstriking perplexing to figure out so I am impressed when people can.
     
  12. red_spork

    red_spork Triumvir monetalis

    Thankfully this one was identified for me beforehand by RBW and Andrew McCabe so the only work I had to do was figuring out the orientation of Tanit. I do find it difficult to decipher undertypes myself sometimes as well. I've got a few coins that I can tell are overstruck but I can't with certainty identify the undertype.
     
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  13. Valentinian

    Valentinian Well-Known Member

    Very nice! Overstrikes are rarely the nicest examples of the overtype, but they sure are interesting in a scholarly way. In Byzantine AE coins, overstrikes are so common that they are a big part of collecting. There are long periods when most Byzantine AE coins are overstruck on earlier issues.
     
  14. Orielensis

    Orielensis Well-Known Member

    That's an amazing coin – in fact, it doesn't get much better in my eyes! Also, thanks for your informative write-up.

    My semuncia is from the time of the Second Punic War but unfortunately no overstrike:
    Römische Republik – Semuncia, Merkur und Bug.png
    Roman Republic, anonymous issue, AE semuncia (post-semilibral standard), 215–212 BC, Rome mint. Obv: head of Mercury r. Rev: prow r.; above, ROMA. 20mm, 6.97g. Ref: RRC 41/11. Ex Artemide, eLive Auction 6, lot 307 (their picture).
     
  15. Terence Cheesman

    Terence Cheesman Well-Known Member

    Stuck Uncia 217-215 B.C. Not an overstrike Crawford 38/6 14.04 grms 25mm 38-e.jpg
     
  16. Al Kowsky

    Al Kowsky Well-Known Member

    red_spork, Fascinating article & great detective work on your part ;)! I've only got two coins directly related to the Second Punic War, but will post the more interesting one below. It's an early denarius serratus struck in Sicily, c. 209-208 BC, 4.19 gm, to pay Roman legionnaires or Greek mercenaries fighting against the Carthaginians . In 213 BC Carthage sent a force of 23,000 men to Sicily in the hope of securing the island, but were no match for the forces of Marcus Claudius Marcellus. By 210 BC Rome had complete control of the island.

    Denarius, Sicily, 209-208 BC, 4.19 gm.jpg
     
  17. dadams

    dadams Well-Known Member

    To quote the famous duo, Bill and Ted, MOST EXCELLENT! That is an awesome addition and even more so since the undertype is clearly identifiable. I have the below 64/6a "MA" example with traces of an undertype which has not been identified:
    Crawford_64-6a_P-Manlius-Vulso.jpg
    Roman Republican.
    Anonymous MA series, [probably P. Manlius Vulso]. Æ Sextans. Sardinia mint. Circa 210 BC.
    Obv: Head of Mercury right wearing winged Petasos, •• above
    Rev: Prow of galley right, ROMA above, ligatured MA monogram before, •• below
    Crawford 64/6a; Sydenham 160c; BMCRR (Italy) 119.



     
  18. red_spork

    red_spork Triumvir monetalis

    That's an excellent example, thanks for sharing. The "wheel" denarius is one of my favorite types, though I don't have one just yet. It's also interesting in the context of Roman Republic numismatics as the first serrate denarius, long before the majority of serrate issues.
     
  19. Al Kowsky

    Al Kowsky Well-Known Member

    red_spork, I just finished browsing through your website :jawdrop:! Wow, that's an impressive collection of early Roman & Republican coinage :D. This is obviously an area of serious study for you. How long have you been at it ?
     
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  20. red_spork

    red_spork Triumvir monetalis

    Thanks Al! I've been collecting ancients for about five and a half years and specializing in the Roman Republic for a little over four years.
     
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  21. Terence Cheesman

    Terence Cheesman Well-Known Member

    Quadrigatus of Rome 225-214 B.C. Crawford 28/3 6.70 grms 22 mm 29-b.png
     
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