The Coining of Money

Triton XIX, Lot: 400. Estimate $1500. Sold for $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Moneyer issues of Imperatorial Rome. T. Carisius. 46 BC. AR Denarius (19mm, 4.18 g, 2h). Rome mint. Head of Juno Moneta right, hair tied in bun behind, wearing earring and necklace; MONETΛ to left / Implements for coining money: anvil die with garlanded punch die above, tongs and hammer on either side; T CARISIVS above; all within laurel wreath. Crawford 464/2; CRI 70; Sydenham 982b; Carisia 1b; RBW 1614. Near EF, toned, trace deposits. Exceptional for issue.

A temple to Juno Moneta (an epithet perhaps meaning “the advisor”) was dedicated on the Capitoline Hill in 344 BC, and the manufacture of coinage at that spot led to the adoption of Juno’s epithet to refer to “mints” and “money.”