Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1259. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $3300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Early Italian and Roman Issues] ROME. 211-208 BC. AV 60 Asses (3.33 g, 11h). Rome mint. Bearded head of Mars right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet; LX (mark of value) behind / Eagle standing right on thunderbolt with wings spread; ROMA below. Crawford 44/2; Sydenham 226; Kestner 285; BMCRR Rome 185; Bahrfeldt 4a. EF, lustrous, traces of obverse die rust. ($3000)

From the John F. Sullivan Collection; Ex The New York Sale II (2 December 1999), lot 179.

Rome's military successes in the later stages of the Second Punic War, especially the capture and sack of Syracuse, enabled her to undertake a fundamental reform of the coinage in 211 BC. This included the introduction of a series of three small gold denominations valued at 60, 40, and 20 asses. The types were identical in each case: a bearded head of Mars, god of war, on obverse, and an eagle on thunderbolt (representing Jupiter) on reverse. The issue extended over a period of about three years and Rome seems to have been the principal mint.