Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Sale 77 26 Nov 2020
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C. Piso L. f. Frugi AR Denarius. Rome, 67 BC. Head of Apollo to right, hair bound with taenia; 'numeral stylisation' behind / Horseman galloping to right, holding palm frond and reins; C•PISO•L•F FRV below, pellets above and below. Crawford 408/1b; Calpurnia 24. 3.92g, 19mm, 6h.
Extremely Fine.
From the Andrew McCabe Collection, collector's ticket included;
Ex Crédit de la Bourse, 19 April 1995, lot 1044.
"25000 is the large number behind the head of Apollo. The modern Roman numerals D for 500 and M for 1000 were not used in ancient times; D is in fact a misreading of the Roman IƆ and the Romans wrote 1000 as CIƆ, again misinterpreted as M. 10000 was written CCIƆƆ but the "Cs" on both side could be nested inside each other. 100000 was written CCCIƆƆƆ (often nested) and its half 50000, split vertically, as CCCI; 100000 is quartered by splitting both vertically and horizontally, and nesting the "Cs", resulting in the numeral 25000 on this coin. Hersh in his manuscript on symbols on Roman Republican coins describes this variety among coins that have a number on the obverse and a fractional number on the reverse. The single dot above and below on reverse are also numbers, in this case fractions, a single dot being 1/12 or an unciae. So the whole coin adds up to 25000.167. " - Andrew McCabe.
Extremely Fine.
From the Andrew McCabe Collection, collector's ticket included;
Ex Crédit de la Bourse, 19 April 1995, lot 1044.
"25000 is the large number behind the head of Apollo. The modern Roman numerals D for 500 and M for 1000 were not used in ancient times; D is in fact a misreading of the Roman IƆ and the Romans wrote 1000 as CIƆ, again misinterpreted as M. 10000 was written CCIƆƆ but the "Cs" on both side could be nested inside each other. 100000 was written CCCIƆƆƆ (often nested) and its half 50000, split vertically, as CCCI; 100000 is quartered by splitting both vertically and horizontally, and nesting the "Cs", resulting in the numeral 25000 on this coin. Hersh in his manuscript on symbols on Roman Republican coins describes this variety among coins that have a number on the obverse and a fractional number on the reverse. The single dot above and below on reverse are also numbers, in this case fractions, a single dot being 1/12 or an unciae. So the whole coin adds up to 25000.167. " - Andrew McCabe.