St. James's Auctions
Auction 49 5 Oct 2021
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Etruria, anonymous, Æ grave quadrans, c. 230-220 BC, Volaterrae (Etruria), janiform head, rev. club, four pellets marking value, wt. 32.49gms., 37mm. (TV.89; Syd.309), good very fine
bt. A. H. Baldwin & Sons, 25 August 1955 for £2.
With pen and ink collector's ticket.
Coming from the Latin words januae (doorways) and jani (archways), Janus was the animistic spirt of beginnings and transitions. The Romans were rather superstitious, particularly when it came to spirts and magic, which were thought to manifest in places of change or 'limbo' such as doorways and crossroads. Here Janus is shown with two heads, but he occasionally takes the form of a four headed bust, representing the spirt of a four-way arch. The most prominent janus within Rome was the Janus Geminus, a shrine with two sets of doors. The historian Livy recalled that the doors were to be opened in times of war and closed when Rome was at peace, infamously, the doors were shut only twice in 600 years.
(500-750 GBP)
bt. A. H. Baldwin & Sons, 25 August 1955 for £2.
With pen and ink collector's ticket.
Coming from the Latin words januae (doorways) and jani (archways), Janus was the animistic spirt of beginnings and transitions. The Romans were rather superstitious, particularly when it came to spirts and magic, which were thought to manifest in places of change or 'limbo' such as doorways and crossroads. Here Janus is shown with two heads, but he occasionally takes the form of a four headed bust, representing the spirt of a four-way arch. The most prominent janus within Rome was the Janus Geminus, a shrine with two sets of doors. The historian Livy recalled that the doors were to be opened in times of war and closed when Rome was at peace, infamously, the doors were shut only twice in 600 years.
(500-750 GBP)