The Corona Vallaris

Triton XVII, Lot: 558. Estimate $3000. Sold for $4750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Moneyer issues of Imperatorial Rome. C. Numonius Vaala. 43 BC. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.78 g, 3h). Rome mint. Bare head of Numonius Vaala right; C • NVMONIVS downwards to right, VAALA upwards to left / Soldier advancing left, holding spear and shield, attacking a vallum defended by two soldiers; VAALA in exergue. Crawford 514/2; CRI 322; Sydenham 1087; Kestner 3788; BMCRR Rome 4216; Numonia 2. VF, attractively toned. Well centered.

From the Archer M. Huntington Collection, ANS 1001.1.10525.

As with many of the moneyers' types of the late first century BC, C. Numonius Vaala's reverse type refers to an historic event in his family's past. We cannot know to which specific ancestor the moneyer is referring, but the scene depicts military action that brought a specific honor to the soldier involved. During the siege of a city or an enemy camp, the first soldier to breach the walls was awarded the corona vallaris, or "wall crown". The cognomen Vaala became a hereditary title among the Numonii, to be displayed proudly by the first member of the family to achieve the office of moneyer.