436, Lot: 406. Estimate $150. Sold for $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Anonymous. Circa 211-206 BC. Æ Semuncia (19mm, 3.02 g, 3h). Luceria mint. Draped bust of Mercury right, wearing winged petasus / Prow of galley right; ROMA above, L below. Cf. Crawford 43/6; cf. Sydenham 130; Type as RBW 157. Good VF, dark green patina.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection. Ex RBW Collection Duplicate; purchased by him from Numismatica Ars Classica 7 (2 March 1994), lot 479.

Not in Crawford. Scarce second series Luceria semuncia, to be associated with RRC 97/10 through 97/15 bronzes, and dating from 211-206 BC. This coin was originally part of the RBW consignment for NAC 61, but wasn't in the end included – as noted on its RBW ticket – and was bought by me later. Roberto Russo, who catalogued the sale, included countless new types and varieties that were not previously published. In order to do this, RBW had to supply not only the Sydenham or Crawford coin types known to him, but also coins that looked stylistically different that might be part of a different series or an unreported variety of an existing series or might be imitative, or might be misread. Three L mintmark Luceria semuncia (of the generic RRC 43/6 type) were provided by RBW and two are listed in NAC 61, lots 164 and 165, one with a round bulbous prow-stem and no reverse border circle, and one with a narrow upright line-bounded prow-stem and a linear border circle. This coin has the features like the latter but struck on an unusually large flan. NAC 61 describes the type as “a scarce variety with linear circle on reverse”.

I now believe after further research, and also discussions with the late Roberto Russo, that the early struck bronzes of Luceria can be classified into a heavy series with style akin to NAC 61, lot 164 (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1102020), struck probaly 214-212 BC, and a lighter series with style akin to NAC 61, lot 165 (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1102019), struck from about 211 BC to about 206 BC at the latest. However, when it came to the smallest denomination, the semuncia, its weight wasn't actually reduced, so the later semuncia have different design elements but the same weight as the earlier. This maintenance of weight for the very smallest denominations is seen throughout the struck bronze series until the first century BC, where heavy uncia are seen as late as the RRC 315 L.H.TVB and RRC 316 L.THORI issues. [Andrew McCabe]