82, Lot: 1. Estimate $100. Sold for $206. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CELTIC, Danube Region. The Eraviscii? Circa 65-50 BC. AR Denarius (18mm, 4.52 gm). Imitating a Roman Republic denarius of P. Crepusius (Crawford 361). Laureate head of Apollo right / Horseman right; XXX behind. Cf. De la Tour 10078ff. VF, odd flan flaw on reverse.

Quantities of Roman Republic denarii have been found in Balkan deposits, some with the tribal name of the Eraviscii. The prototypes of these denarii all date in the 80s and 70s BC. The implication is that there was a vast influx of Roman silver into the Balkans in the 70s and 60s BC. Crawford, in Coinage & Money Under the Roman Republic, attributes this influx to the expansion of the slave trade into the Balkans at this period. The east had been pacified by Pompey, eliminating the principal source of slaves, and incursions into Gaul had not yet begun in earnest, leaving the Balkans to supply a new source of manpower.