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Vespasian Vesta AR Denarius, Ex Archer Huntington, ANS & HSA w/ museum tag
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Roman Imperial. Vespasian AR Denarius (17mm, 3.50 g, 6h). Rome mint, struck July-December 71 CE.
Obv: IMP CAES VESP AVG P M. Laureate head right.
Rev: TRI POT. Vesta seated left, draped, holding simpulum.
Ref: RIC II.1 46; RSC / Cohen 561.
Prov: Archer M. Huntington (1870-1955) Collection; loaned, then bequeathed to Hispanic Society of America (HSA 22362); on loan, American Numismatic Society (1001.1.22362; late 1940s - 2012); Sotheby's sale of Huntington coll. (8 Mar 2012); acq. anon. consortium (incl. Jose Vico, et al.); returned to ANS among 26,500 others (May 2012 - sum. 2013); sold, CNG e-Auction 397 (17 May 2017), 522; Lampasas Collection; CNG 487 (10 Mar 2021), 510; Charles Chamberlain Collection; CNG 509 (9 Feb 2022), 664; present disposition: Curtis JJ Coll. (USA).
Notes: Archer M. Huntington (AMH) founded the Hispanic Society of America and was a major benefactor of the American Numismatic Society (and president, 1905-10). HSA & ANS remain (for now) neighbors in Manhattan's Audubon Terrace, commissioned by Huntington in 1907.
The two institutions battled in the courts & press over the fate of AMH's collection (c. 2008-12). The ANS, to whom the collection had been on "permanent loan" for >65 years, vehemently opposed a planned sale by HSA, the legal owner of the 37,895 coins. The courts permitted HSA's highly controversial 2012 sale. By summer 2013, though, anonymous donors had returned ~26,500 of them. Remarkably, ANS re-deaccessioned (!) & consigned several thousand to auction, incl. this coin & two others now in my coll.
Detailed timeline & bibliography in Forum Disc. Topic 128306, Reply 5 (7 Jan 2023) [LINK]
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