Anchor and Trident Cast Sextans

Anchor and Trident Cast Sextans

ICC 297, 280 to 260 BC, Central Italy

This coin is normally described as rare, RR. I did not find many examples on line when looking for similar coins. I remembered this quote:
Cast coins are rare. Even rarer are collectors of cast coins.

It is hard to see details on the Seller's pics of the trident.

My Pics are not any better. It is hard to see the curls of the trident, and they look a bit different than pics in two old cast coin books.

the picture above from Garrucci, Le Monete Dell'Italia Antica, 1885, shows ornate details on the trident in pic #4.

the picture above from L'Aes Grave Del Museo Kircheroiano, 1839, shows ornate details on the trident like the one above, but not on my coin. I suppose that could be troubling. 

Greek Italy.

Cast AE Sextans, uncertain Central Italy, c. 280-260 BC.

Obv - Anchor; two pellets (mark of value) across the field.

Rev - Trident; two pellets (mark of value) across the field.

Catalogers who describe this coin say they can not place it in another series of cast coins or guess where they were produced.  

The coin is not in Crawford, Grueber, Sear, Babalyon or several other books. I did not find it in the British Museum on line, but do not feel good about my searches. It is in Sydenham’s Aes Grave book, but not his larger book on RR coins. I found a dozen examples in web searches. Size and weight data are given below.

My coin:

·         41.76 grams

·         35.9 X 40.3 X 7.3 mm; this coin is a bit thinner and wider than other Sextans I have

·         RR. Very rare.

·         Green patina, blackish spots.

·         About VF.

References:

HN Italy 377.

L'Aes Grave Del Museo Kircheroiano; Plate 35; Incerte Table 1 of 5; #4

Garrucci, Le Monete Dell’ Italia Antica, Pg 23, #4; pl. XLIV, #4; see Note 1 

Haeberline, Pg 164, 38 examples; pl. 68, #1 & 2; avg wt = 35.0 to 69.7 grams

Vecchi, ICC 297; 38.2 to 69.7 grams

T.V. 214

Sydenham Aes Grave; Pg 105; #109;

Sydenham coin collection Sales Catalogue: Pg 8; #132 (37 gr) & #133 (43.2 gr); plate IX – X;

.

	eem data	Hab data	Eq As
Weight	41.80		eem	haeb
Weight - max	54.30	69.7
Weight - min	33.30	34.9
Weight - avg	45.4	51.0	272	306
Weight - st dev	5.9	13.8
Number	14	38	note that Haeberline drops the lowest 7 weights, I added them back
			note I droped the highest weight (108 grams), it was twice the next highest weight
Diameter - max	40.3
Diameter - min	35.9
Diameter - max	40.3
Diameter - min	36.0
Diameter - avg	37.417
Diameter - st dev	1.580

Note 1: Garrucci gave a weight for this coin, but I could not figure it out even with the help of google translate.
Pesa un' oncia e 22 denari (It weighs an ounce and 22 denier)