Gemini, LLC
Auction 12 11 January 2015
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Tessera. AE 22, 6.50g (1h). . , Early first century AD. Obv: Draped bust of Dionysus right wearing wreath of ivy leaves, his hair gathered in a roll along the front edge, and with two long loose locks falling down his neck; no legend, dotted border. Rx: Numeral XIIII across field within dotted border. Cohen VIII, p. 262, no. 2 (citing BM, with line drawing, probably same dies as ours, classified by Cohen as "Drusilla?"). Choice EF
Ex NAC 64, 17-18 May 2012, lot 1096 ("From the Alberto Campana collection")
Our tessera belongs to the "spintria" series, with reverses all showing a Roman numeral from I to XVI, while the obverses show erotic scenes, early imperial portraits, and a few other types, including our apparent head of Dionysus. Despite its publication with a drawing by Cohen, our obverse type is not in Buttrey, The Spintriae as a Historical Source, Num. Chronicle 1973, pp. 52-63, nor in Reis and Schindel, Typenkatalog der Tesserae und Spintriae, Money Trend, September 1998, pp. 51-53
Ex NAC 64, 17-18 May 2012, lot 1096 ("From the Alberto Campana collection")
Our tessera belongs to the "spintria" series, with reverses all showing a Roman numeral from I to XVI, while the obverses show erotic scenes, early imperial portraits, and a few other types, including our apparent head of Dionysus. Despite its publication with a drawing by Cohen, our obverse type is not in Buttrey, The Spintriae as a Historical Source, Num. Chronicle 1973, pp. 52-63, nor in Reis and Schindel, Typenkatalog der Tesserae und Spintriae, Money Trend, September 1998, pp. 51-53