443, Lot: 486. Estimate $1000. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

The Caesarians. Julius Caesar. April 44 BC. AR Denarius (22mm, 3.61 g, 1h). Rome mint; C. Cossutius Maridianus, moneyer. Laureate and veiled head right; apex behind, lituus before / C • COSSVTIVS and MARID–IAN[VS] arranged in the form of a cross; A–A–A– [F•F] in angles. Crawford 480/19; Alföldi Type XVII; CRI 112; Sydenham 1069; RSC 8; Type as RBW 1687. VF, toned, unevenly struck on a broad flan.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection, purchased from Herakles Numismatics (Perry Siegel), reportedly from a west coast US collection.

The reverse legend is intended to read “tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo.” Compare for reverse type to the RRC 393/1b reading “cvrator denariorum flandorum” earlier in this sale. This denarius is struck on a remarkable flan, with on the obverse large areas of the “chicken skin” flan bumps that are typically seen on Caesarian issues of the 40s BC. Undoubtedly relating to a flan preparation process, whereby the flans were beaten with the equivalent of a meat tenderizer that produced these raised patterns, perhaps for metallurgical reasons or perhaps simply to make the flans larger before striking. The coin is hardly worn, as can be seen from the sharpness of the reverse legend, and I find the result both attractive and interesting, maintaining all of the important details. [Andrew McCabe]