Search


CNG Bidding Platform

Information

Products and Services



Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 

Unpublished and Unique

420, Lot: 401. Estimate $200.
Sold for $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

C. Servilius Vatia. 127 BC. Æ Semis (22.9mm, 8.56 g, 9h). Rome mint. Laureate head of Saturn right; S (mark of value) to left / Prow of galley right; S (mark of value) to right, ROMA below. Unpublished, but cf. Crawford 264/2 var. (prow inscribed C•SERVEILI, lion running right above prow); cf. Sydenham 484 var. (same); cf. RBW 1070 var. (same). VF, brown surfaces with touches of green. Unique.


From the Andrew McCabe Collection. Ex English Amateur Scholar Collection (Numismatica Ars Classica 92, Part II, 24 May 2016), lot 1605.

I have considered at length whether this issue belongs to RRC 272, whose coins have a specific style (see for reference Crawford's illustrated 272/1 semis; also see Goodman collection: CNG 45, lots 1572, 1573, and 1574, which are of consistent RRC 272 style). The fabric of this coin and details of the prow differ from these examples, but are consistent with coins of the era. An exact match for the style can be found in the issue of C. SERVEILI (RRC 264, cf. RBW collection nos. 1070, 1071, and 1072), with the same prows with large square deck structures and horizontal keels with waves, and with the same frowning head of Saturn as on RBW 1070. Hence, I've classified this as RRC 264/2 variety, and as such, new and unpublished. [A. McCabe]