Help with worn Roman Republic Denarius

[Zaph0dd]

Hi there,

Not much to work with im afraid.

Laureate Head of Jupiter or Saturn?  right, thunderbolt ? under head
Quadriga heading right.

19mm, 2.88g

[Zaph0dd]

I think I may have it, can anyone confirm please.

Anonymous issue.
86 BC. Laureate head of Apollo Vejovis right, thunderbolt below / Jupiter in quadriga right, hurling a thunderbolt

RCV 266

[Andrew McCabe]

I think I may have it, can anyone confirm please.

Anonymous issue.
86 BC. Laureate head of Apollo Vejovis right, thunderbolt below / Jupiter in quadriga right, hurling a thunderbolt

RCV 266

Almost - but it's not the anonymous type, but the rare GAR OGVL VER signed type. You can see a clear letter A under the horses which is the A of GAR. So it's either a denarius with legend GAR VER OGVL or with GAR OGVL VER. The letters stand for family names Gargilia, Ogulnia and Vergilia. Here's Phil Davis' example of GAR OGVL VER, Crawford 350A/1a



Postscript: Looking under the exergue line, I read OGVL at left. So it's the same type as I illustrated, Crawford 350A/1a GAR OGVL VER denarius.

[Zaph0dd]

Many thanks Andrew.

I guess its nothing unusual for the head of Apollo to vary so much in style ?, all other examples of Crawford 350a I can find illustrated show the head much slimmer (hence my initial confusion over which deity it was actually supposed to be)

[Andrew McCabe]

Many thanks Andrew.

I guess its nothing unusual for the head of Apollo to vary so much in style ?, all other examples of Crawford 350a I can find illustrated show the head much slimmer (hence my initial confusion over which deity it was actually supposed to be)

Not unusual, but one needs to know the typical styles of series to be sure that for each case that it's normal. In the case of Roman Republican types of the first century BC there was usually two die engravers for each coin issue. So each series typically comes in two engraving styles. In this case one engraver made big heads and the other made slimmer heads. If a third, completely unknown style appeared, maybe I would look more closely.