436, Lot: 470. Estimate $200. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

L. Papius. 79 BC. AR Serrate Denarius (19mm, 3.89 g, 5h). Rome mint. Head of Juno Sospita right, wearing goat-skin headdress; measuring dividers or compass to left / Griffin springing right; pump drill below. Crawford 384/1 (symbols 204); Sydenham 773; Papia 1; RBW 1412-3 var. (symbols). Good VF, toned. Unusual symbols.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection, purchased from Münzhandlung Ritter.

The symbol on the reverse is a pump drill composed of a drill shaft, a narrow board with a hole through the center, a weight (usually a heavy disc) acting as a flywheel, and a length of cord. The weight is attached near the bottom of the shaft and the hole board is slipped over the top. The cordage is run through a hole near the top of the shaft and affixed to either end of the hole board so that it hangs just above the weight. To use, one hand is placed on the hole board while the other turns the shaft to wind the cord around its length, thus raising the hole board to near the top where the cord becomes taut. Placing the tip against the material to be drilled and held upright, a smooth downward pressure is exerted on the board, causing the drill to rapidly spin. Once the bottom is reached, the weight is relieved, and the drill allowed to rebound, rewinding the cord around the shaft and the process is repeated. On this coin's image, the bottom of the drill is at left, where the small weight is just above the drill tip. The large part at right is the hole board that is pressed down to drill. The obverse features a measuring dividers or compass. [Andrew McCabe]