Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 640. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Roman Republican] C. Mamilius Limetanus. 82 BC. AR Serrate Denarius (3.93 g, 3h). Rome mint. Head of Mercury right, wearing winged petasus, caduceus over shoulder; A above caduceus, c/m: SE in indented tabula / Ulysses walking right, holding staff and extending hand towards his faithful dog, Argus. For coin: Crawford 362/1; Sydenham 741; Mamilia 6; c/m apparently unpublished. Fine, light scratches. An enigmatic countermark. ($200)

Several varieties of SE countermarks appear on bronze asses of the first century (cf. Martini, Locarno 41 and Pangerl 49), and have been atttributed to a magistrate Sentius, with little on which to base this attribution. Regardless, the style of this countermark, without serifs and appearing within a shaped tabula, is significantly different from the known countermarks, and should not necessarily be associated with them.