421, Lot: 538. Estimate $100. Sold for $160. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Mn. Fonteius C.f. 85 BC. AR Denarius (20mm, 3.77 g, 4h). Rome mint. Laureate head of Vejovis (or Apollo) right; thunderbolt below / Infant winged Genius (or Cupid) seated on goat standing right; pilei of the Dioscuri above, thyrsus with fillet in exergue; all within laurel wreath. Crawford 353/1c; Sydenham 724a; Fonteia 10; RBW 1351. VF, darkly toned, obverse slightly double struck.

From the Jonathan P. Rosen Collection.

The Temple of Vejovis in Rome contained a statue of a goat with a winged Genius on its back, which alluded 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.