Sale: Triton VI, Lot: 723. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 13 January 2003.  Sold For $2700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Q. Pomponius Musa. 56 BC. AR Denarius (3.82 gm). Q. POMPONI MVSA, diademed head of Apollo right / HERCVLES MVSARVM, Hercules standing right, playing lyre, club at his feet. Crawford 410/1; Sydenham 810; Pomponia 8. Beautifully toned EF, fully lustrous. Rare. (See color enlargement on plate 10.) ($1500) 

From the Collection of an American Lady. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica Auction 9 (16 April 1996), lot 691; Numsiamtic Fine Arts Auction XXVII (4-5 December 1991), lot 480; Prof. Angelo Signorelli Collection (P. & P. Santamaria, 4 June 1952), lot 587.

The coinage of Q. Pomponius Musa feature the nine muses and Hercules Musagetes (this coin). Hercules, as leader of the choir is shown playing a lyre, and the nine muses are shown with their various attributes. Q. Pomponius Musa is known only from his coins and it can be assumed that his choice of the muses for his coins is intended as a reference to his cognomen Musa.