Sale: Triton VI, Lot: 792. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 13 January 2003.  Sold For $9000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

C. Numonius Vaala. 41 BC. AR Denarius (3.81 gm). Bare head of Numonius Vaala right; C. NVMONIVS right, VAALA left / Warrior standing left, holding spear and shield, attacking a vallum defended by two soldiers; VAALA in exergue. Crawford 514/2; CRI 322; Sydenham 1087; Numonia 2. Lightly toned EF, partial flat strike. Exceptional portrait. Very Rare issue. (See color enlargement on plate 11.) ($5000)

As with many of the moneyers' types of the late 1st century BC, C. Numonius Vaala's reverse type refers to an historic event in his family's past. We cannot know which specific ancestor is referred to, 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 an hereditary title among the Numonii, to be displayed proudly by the first member of the family to achieve the office of moneyer.