Owl series denarius, RRC 135/1

Denomination: Denarius
Era: C. 194-190 BC
Metal: AR
Obverse: Helmeted head of Roma R,; X behind. Border of dots
Reverse: Dioscuri on horseback right, each holding spear, star above each head; "Owl" below; ROMA in 3-line frame.

Mint: Uncertain
Weight: 3.90 g
Reference: RRC 135/1
Provenance: NAC 125, Lot 378, June 24, 2021

Crawford discusses this type only briefly, suggesting unskilled engravers at work. Grueber discusses the issue much more extensively if not speculatively: "D'Ailly, following the suggestion of Cavedoni, attributes the issue of these denarii to a member of the Caedicia gens, a cognomen of which was Noctua (i.e. owl). Q. Caedicius Noctua Q. f was consul in B. C. 289 and censor in B.C. 283, and Q. Caedicius Noctua Q. f. Q. n, Consul in B. C. 256. This cognomen appears to have been assumed by the Caedicia gens, because M. Caedicius informed the tribunes of the people that on the spot in th Via Nova, where at a later time a chapel was placed on the site of the temple of Vesta, he had heard in the silence of the night, superhuman voice commanding him to inform the magistrates that the Gauls were coming (Livy, v. 32). The owl, the vigilant bird of the night, would be a fitting symbol of this supernatural warning. This bird also occurs as a type on autonomous coins of Tarentum in Calabria, of Velia in Lucania, and of other cities of Italy. Both the cities mentiond took an active part in the second Punic war. It is however more probable, as in the case of previous issues, that the owl is the sign of a moneyer rather than aof a mint."