Triton XXI, Lot: 625. Estimate $500. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Mn. Fonteius C.f. 85 BC. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.80 g, 6h). Rome mint. Laureate head of Vejovis (or Apollo) right; M FO(NT)EIC downward to left, monogram below chin, thunderbolt below neck / Winged Genius (or Cupid) seated on goat, standing right; pilei of the Dioscuri above, thyrsus with fillet in exergue; all within laurel wreath. Crawford 353/1a; Sydenham 724; Fonteia 9; RBW 1350. Superb EF, toned.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group 93 (22 May 2013), lot 1093; Numismatica Ars Classica 33 (5 April 2006), lot 247.

In the Temple of Vejovis in Rome there stood near his statue another statue of a goat with a winged Genius on its back, which alludes to the infancy of Jupiter, who, on Mount Ida, was nursed by the goat Amaltheia. The caps of the Dioscuri are placed above, because they were worshipped at Tusculum, from where the Fonteia family originated.