| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 28 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 3048 Price realized: 120 CHF (Approx. 136 USD / 127 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Q. Pomponius Musa, 56 BC. Denarius (Silver, 19 mm, 4.00 g, 6 h), Rome. Laureate head of Apollo to right; behind, star. Rev. [Q•P]OMPONI / [M]VSA Urania, the Muse of Astronomy, standing front, head to left, pointing with a wand held in her right hand at a globe set on base. Babelon (Pomponia) 22. Crawford 410/8. RBW 1488. Sydenham 823. The reverse struck somewhat off center, otherwise, very fine. Ex Leu Web Auction 18, 19-21 December 2021, 2494, from the Red Ox Collection, the collection of the Czech musician Adolf Picek (circa 1885-1978), and formerly in the possession of an Italian banker, whose life was saved by Mr. Picek in the Battles of the Piave River on the Italian Front in 1917-1918 and who presented his savior with 'four socks of old coins' in reward. Other than on the coins of this moneyer, the name Musa is unknown in Roman history associated with the Pomponia gens. The reference to Hercules Musagetes and the nine Muses is obvious: it is a punning allusion to the name of the moneyer. It is probable that the representation of Hercules here, as well as the depictions of the Muses on Q. Pomponius Musa's other denarii, are actual representations of the statuary which M. Fulvius Nobilior had installed in the temple he erected to the Muses in the Circus Flaminius in 179 BC. Starting price: 50 CHF |  |
