128/1. Decia - denarius (206-200 BC)

AR Denarius (uncertain mint, 206-200 BC)

O/ Helmeted head of Roma right; X behind head.

R/ The Dioscuri galloping right; shield & carnyx below horses; ROMA in exergue.

4.01g; 20.5mm

Crawford 128/1 (less than 10 obverse dies/less than 12 reverse dies)

- Privately bought from Münzen & Medaillen Basel.

- Ex collection of Elvira Elisa Clain-Stefanelli (1914-2001), former director of the National Numismatic Collection (part of the Smithsonian Institute).

- Naville Numismatics Live Auction 29, lot 479.

Anonymous (shield & carnyx), Decius?:

This very rare issue has traditionally been attributed to a descendant of a line of three heroes named Publius Decius Mus.  The first of that name was Consul in 340 BC; he received the Grass Crown after having saved his army from destruction against the Samnites, then sacrificed himself at the Battle of Vesuvius during his consulship in an act of devotio (exchanging his life against the victory of his army).  His son was four times Consul (312, 308, 297 and 295 BC) and similarly sacrificed himself at the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC against a coalition of Etruscans, Samnites, and Gauls.  The third of that name was Consul in 279 BC and fought against Pyrrhus, who successfully thwarted his attempt to sacrifice himself like his ancestors (cf. discussion in Broughton, vol. I, p. 193).

300 years later, Trajan restored several issues of the Republic, including this one, but with the addition of DECIVS MVS on the obverse (RIC 766).  Babelon thus assumed that this denarius was minted by the son of the last Publius Decius Mus (Decia 1).  In this hypothesis, the shield and Carnyx refers to the second Mus -- the one who fought the Gauls.

However, Crawford contested this view, writing: "The restoration of this issue by Trajan with the added legend DECIVS MVS provides no grounds whatever for supposing that it was originally struck by someone of that name - the family was certainly extinct by this period."

It is still very strange that Trajan picked this rare denarius, from an irregular mint, for restoration.  He could have chosen many other anonymous issues of the early Roman coinage, and simply added the name of Decius Mus.  It tells us many things.  First that the imperial mint had retained some specimens or archives of previous issues up to the 3rd century BC, because due to its rarity, this denarius had already disappeared from circulation by the time of Trajan.  A list of the magistrates behind each issue could therefore have been kept as well; Trajan might have selected the moneyers whom he thought were significant for the history of Rome and restored their issue.  A Publius Decius Subulo was living in these years (Livy, xliii. 17) and perhaps minted this coin; his name could have been preserved in the archives of the mint, which might have led Trajan to pick his denarius for restoration.

This issue was struck on unusually large flans.

Collection : Roman Republic