Marcus Antonius and Lucius Munatius Plancus AR Denarius, PRO • COS

Marcus Antonius - AR Denarius Early summer 40 BC. (18mm, 3.71 g, 12h). Military mint traveling with Antonius as Triumvir and Imperator and Plancus as Imperator in Greece;

obv. M • ANTON • IMP • AVG III VIR • R • R • P • C Lituus and capis, rev. L • PLANCVS • PRO • COS Sacrificial jug flanked by thunderbolt and caduceus.

Crawford 522/2; CRI 253; Sydenham 1190; RSC 24; RBW1806.

Provenance from CNG auctions;

from Spink 230 (15 July 2015), lot 69 (£850);

from Seaby Coin and Medal Bulletin 704 (April 1977), lot C289 (£365).

Rarity: A check on Acsearch revealed that only 6 other coins of this type have been recorded over the last two decades. Just a few older entries date back before 1924.

There is another variety as well (IMP ITER instead of PRO COS). 

M • ANTON • IMP • AVG III VIR • R • P • C / L • PLANCVS • IMP • ITER 

These issues may have been struck as M. Antonius and L. Plancus were moving their forces across Greece toward the coast of Epirus. L. Plancus was a supporter of M. Antonius until the triumvir's failed Parthian campaign, at which time he shifted his allegiance to Octavian (Suetonius [Aug. 7] informs us that it was at Plancus' suggestion that Octavian took the name Augustus).
Remarkably, Plancus' tomb, built at the top Mount Orlando at the seaside town of Gaeta, Italy, has survived. The tomb's inscription recounts the greatest achievements of his career:
Lucius Munatius Plancus, son of Lucius, grandson of Lucius, great-grandson of Lucius, consul, censor, twice imperator, septemvir epulonum, having triumphed over the Raetians, built the temple of Saturn from the spoils; parcelled out land in Italy at Beneventum;
and in Gaul, founded the colonies of Lugdunum (Lyon, France) and Raurica (Basel, Switzerland).
Sear (CRI p. 256) suggests that the tall vessel on the reverse "may relate to his [Plancus'] membership of the priestly college of the Epulones whose function was to supervise certain sacred banquets."

Referencia : Crawford 522/2; CRI 253; Sydenham 1190; RSC 24; RBW1806

Colección : In US Republican Imperatorial