436, Lot: 428. Estimate $100. Sold for $170. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

C. Cluvius Saxula. 169-158 BC. Æ Sextans (16.5mm, 4.99 g, 10h). Rome mint. Draped bust of Mercury right, wearing winged petasus; • • (mark of value) above / Prow of galley right; C • S(AX) above, • • (mark of value) to right. Crawford 173/5; Sydenham 360d; RBW 736 (this coin). Near VF, dark green to black patina.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection. Ex RBW Collection (Numismatica Ars Classica 61, 5 October 2011), lot 731; purchased by RBW from Kurt Spanier in December 1986.

The SAX and C. SAX series are often confused by collectors, especially as the initial C in RRC 173 is often off the flan. But the two series are easily distinguishable by their differing deck structures. On C. SAX there is just a horizontal line with two dots representing the structure, and a second horizontal line below that representing the fighting platform, as on this coin. On the rarer SAX, see the triens later in the sale, there is a raised square deck structure, standing atop a gently sloping fighting platform. [Andrew McCabe]