Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Q. Cornuficius AR Denarius. North African mint, possibly Utica, spring-early summer 42 BC. Head of Jupiter Ammon to left / Q. Cornuficius standing to left, wearing veil and holding lituus, crowned by Juno Sospita standing to left, holding spear and shield, with crow perching on shoulder; Q•CORN downwards to left, VFICI in exergue, AVGVR•IMP upwards to right. Crawford 509/2; CRI 228; BMCRR Africa 26. 3.20g, 19mm, 12h.
Near Very Fine; wonderful old cabinet tone. Of the greatest rarity - a solid silver (not plated) example of one of the most elusive of Roman Republican denarii, and the only intact such specimen to have been offered at auction in over twenty years.
From a private North European collection.
In the summer of 42 BC, tensions were escalating towards the final clash between the forces of Octavian and Mark Antony leading the Caesarian faction and those of the liberatores Brutus and Cassius, which was to take place at Philippi in October of that year. Meanwhile Quintus Cornuficius, the pro-republican governor of Africa Vetus was waging his own war for regional control. By the time he was appointed governor of Africa Vetus (the 'old' province) in 44 BC, Quintus Cornuficius had already enjoyed a distinguished career as a general, orator and poet. He counted among his friends Catullus and Cicero, and had been a loyal ally of Julius Caesar in his struggle against the Pompeians. After the murder of Caesar, Cornuficius voiced his opposition to the Triumvirs: he sided with the senate in the War of Mutina (43 BC), refused to allow Antony's nominee to replace him as governor, and thus was named in the Triumviral proscriptions. From his base in Africa, he aided Sextus Pompey and allowed many of those who also had been proscribed to take refuge in his territory. Cornuficius' opposition to the Triumvirs proved to be his undoing, for in 42 BC he was attacked by Titus Sextius, governor of neighbouring Africa Nova (the 'new' province). The fact that Cornuficius was hailed Imperator and was able to produce an intriguing coinage with his title suggests his defence was initially successful but his army was eventually defeated near Utica in the early summer of 42 BC with Cornuficius himself slain on the field.
This type, like the rest of Cornuficius' rare coinage produced during this period, relates to the province of Africa Vetus: the obverse portrait is that of Jupiter Ammon, a syncretic god, assimilating the Roman god with a deity of Egyptian or Libyan origin, who frequently appeared on Greek coins of Cyrenaica and on bronzes of the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt. It is combined with a reverse type which depicts Cornuficius himself in the robes of an augur, a position to which he had been appointed by Julius Caesar in 47 BC. He is being crowned by Juno Sospita, a goddess especially worshipped by the area of Lanuvium in Italy, which should be viewed as a reference to his likely Lanuvine family origin.
Owing to a paucity of silver in his coffers, many of Cornuficius' coins were plated. Those like the present example which are struck in solid silver are considered an extreme rarity within an extreme rarity.
Near Very Fine; wonderful old cabinet tone. Of the greatest rarity - a solid silver (not plated) example of one of the most elusive of Roman Republican denarii, and the only intact such specimen to have been offered at auction in over twenty years.
From a private North European collection.
In the summer of 42 BC, tensions were escalating towards the final clash between the forces of Octavian and Mark Antony leading the Caesarian faction and those of the liberatores Brutus and Cassius, which was to take place at Philippi in October of that year. Meanwhile Quintus Cornuficius, the pro-republican governor of Africa Vetus was waging his own war for regional control. By the time he was appointed governor of Africa Vetus (the 'old' province) in 44 BC, Quintus Cornuficius had already enjoyed a distinguished career as a general, orator and poet. He counted among his friends Catullus and Cicero, and had been a loyal ally of Julius Caesar in his struggle against the Pompeians. After the murder of Caesar, Cornuficius voiced his opposition to the Triumvirs: he sided with the senate in the War of Mutina (43 BC), refused to allow Antony's nominee to replace him as governor, and thus was named in the Triumviral proscriptions. From his base in Africa, he aided Sextus Pompey and allowed many of those who also had been proscribed to take refuge in his territory. Cornuficius' opposition to the Triumvirs proved to be his undoing, for in 42 BC he was attacked by Titus Sextius, governor of neighbouring Africa Nova (the 'new' province). The fact that Cornuficius was hailed Imperator and was able to produce an intriguing coinage with his title suggests his defence was initially successful but his army was eventually defeated near Utica in the early summer of 42 BC with Cornuficius himself slain on the field.
This type, like the rest of Cornuficius' rare coinage produced during this period, relates to the province of Africa Vetus: the obverse portrait is that of Jupiter Ammon, a syncretic god, assimilating the Roman god with a deity of Egyptian or Libyan origin, who frequently appeared on Greek coins of Cyrenaica and on bronzes of the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt. It is combined with a reverse type which depicts Cornuficius himself in the robes of an augur, a position to which he had been appointed by Julius Caesar in 47 BC. He is being crowned by Juno Sospita, a goddess especially worshipped by the area of Lanuvium in Italy, which should be viewed as a reference to his likely Lanuvine family origin.
Owing to a paucity of silver in his coffers, many of Cornuficius' coins were plated. Those like the present example which are struck in solid silver are considered an extreme rarity within an extreme rarity.