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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
432, Lot: 211. Estimate $200.
Sold for $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Anonymous. 211-208 BC. Lot of three (3) coins: Triens, Quadrans, and Sextans. Mint in Sicily. Æ Triens (19mm, 6.41g, 5h). Helmeted head of Minerva right; •••• (mark of value) above / Prow of galley right; •••• (mark of value) above. Crawford 69/4 var. (with corn-ear and KA); Sydenham 310c var. (same); RBW 289 var. (same) // Æ Quadrans (20.5mm, 3.54g, 1h). Head of Hercules right, wearing lion's skin; ••[•] (mark of value) to left / Prow of galley right; ••[•] (mark of value) below. Crawford 69/5 var. (with corn-ear and KA); Sydenham –; RBW 292 var. (same) // Æ Sextans (17mm, 2.78g, 7h). Head of Mercury right, wearing winged petasus; • • (mark of value) above / Prow of galley right; •• (mark of value) below. Crawford 69/6 var. (with corn-ear and KA); Sydenham 310d var. (same); RBW 293 var. (same). Fine to VF, with patinas. LOT SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS.


From the Andrew McCabe Collection. Ex RBW Collection Duplicate, part of a group purchased from RBW in 2013.

This and the preceding lot include a denomination trio (triens, quadrans, and sextans) of Second Punic War overstrikes; these are anonymous and the previous lot with corn-ear and KA. The general discussion in the previous lot on the financial motives and selection methods for overstrikes applies equally to these three anonymous types. Whether these coins are Sicilian or Sardinian is not initially clear (see McCabe in Essays Russo, these being group H1 types). Data: triens weighs 6.41g and is 19mm; the quadrans is 3.54g and 21mm – the largest module coin in the group this time; and the sextans is 2.78g and 17mm. The triens is overstruck on the same Syracuse Hieron Poseidon/Trident type as were the sextans and quadrans of the last group. Two lines of the trident run clearly through the obverse with a control letter A under the end of the legend ...ΩΝΟΣ visible at 2pm reverse, cf. RRC table 18/38. The quadrans has a smooth shaven head left undertype obverse under the chin at 5pm and some wavy lines 10pm reverse. With no sign of a trident, and Poseidon being bearded, it cannot be the same undertype. The head must be Tanit and the wavy lines are the horse's tail on the Sicilo-Punic Tanit/Horse type (with or without palm tree). The obverse of the sextans shows a bent horse’s leg and is likely a bronze assigned to the mint of Carthage of similar Tanit/Horse type, but with a bent foreleg; not a Sardinian type in any event. It is striking, but not surprising, that all three anonymous bronzes are likely Sicilian made; they might equally well have been Sardinian, but in that case we would expect to see a bull with star Sardo-Punic undertype. But given that two of three are struck over Punic and not Syracusan types, these anonymous types probably represent a different mint location in Sicily than the corn-ear and KA types. [Andrew McCabe]