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AR Denarius (Rome, 194-190 BC)
O/ Helmeted head of Roma right, X behind head.
R/ Luna in prancing biga right, [AN or AV above], ROMA in exergue.
3.14g; 16mm
Crawford 136/1 (20 obverse dies/25 reverse dies)
Anonymous (AN or AV), possibly Titus Annius:
Babelon attributed this denarius to the plebeian gens Aurelia (Aurelia 1), but, as Crawford pointed out, the monogram could also be read as AN, thus referring to many other gentes. Crawford added that "speculation about the identity of the moneyer is pointless", but it is still possible to guess it by comparing this monogram with all the possible gentes' monogram.
The Antestii had a different monogram (219/1), idem for the Antonii (364/1), the Aufidii (227/1), the Aurelii (229/1), the Aurunculeii (65/1-5), and the Autronii (146/1). The Antii did not mint coins before the middle of the 1st century BC and did not use a monogram.
The only one left is the plebeian gens Annia, of whom one member, Titus Annius Rufus, minted a denarius in 144 BC (221/1) which bears the exact same monogram as 136/1 (incidentally, Babelon also misattributed this issue to the gens Aurelia (Aurelia 19)). Rufus was the son of Titus Annius, the first member of the gens to reach the consulship in 153 BC, and grandson of Titus Annius, who is mentioned by Livy as envoy to Perseus in 172 BC (xlii. 25) and as Triumvir Colonis in Aquileia in 169 BC (xliii. 17); the latter might have been our moneyer.
Collection : Roman Republic