| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 103 | Auction date: 24 November 2022 |
| Lot number: 920 Price realized: 300 GBP (Approx. 364 USD / 350 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Sextus Pompey AR Denarius. Uncertain Sicilian mint, 42-40 BC. Pharos of Messana surmounted by statue of Neptune standing to right, holding trident and rudder, foot on prow, ship before, with aquila in prow and filleted sceptre in stern; [MAG]•PIVS•[IMP•ITER] around / Scylla, wielding rudder with both hands; PRAEF•CLAS•ET•ORAE M[ARIT•EX•S•C•] around. Crawford 511/4a; CRI 335; BMCRR Sicily 18; RSC 2 3.59g, 19mm, 11h. Near Very Fine; banker's marks. Rare. From a private UK Collection. Estimate: 150 GBP |  |
Match 1:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > Auction XXVII | Auction date: 22 March 2023 |
| Lot number: 624 Price realized: 9,500 GBP (Approx. 11,621 USD / 10,767 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Sextus Pompey AR Denarius. Uncertain mint in Sicily (Catania?), 42-40 BC. MAG•PIVS•IM[P•ITER], bare head of Pompey Magnus to right; capis behind, lituus before / Neptune standing to left, holding aplustre and with foot on prow, between the Catanaean brothers Anapias and Amphinomus advancing in opposite directions and carrying their parents on their shoulders; PRÆF (partially ligate) above, [C]LAS•ET•OR[Æ•MARI]T•EX•S•[C] (partially ligate) in two lines in exergue. Crawford 511/3a; CRI 334; BMCRR Sicily 7-10; RSC 17 (Pompey the Great); RBW 1785. 3.87g, 19mm, 2h. Good Extremely Fine; beautiful iridescent tone, a superb portrait of Pompey the Great and with an unusually complete reverse for the issue. Ex Thomas A. Palmer Collection, Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XXV, 11 January 2022, lot 747; Privately purchased from Jonathan Kern, May 1997. This coin of Sextus Pompey is rich with symbolism. The reverse alludes not only to Sextus' command of the seas and the probable location of the mint through the legend of Amphinomus and Anapias, but is also a reference to the piety of Sextus Pompey in upholding the Republican ideals of his late father, who is depicted on the obverse. In the ancient version of the legend there was but one pious hero, though by later times this had evolved into the tale that would have been familiar to the Pompeians, and which provided the inspiration for the final verses of the pseudo-Virgilian poem 'Aetna'. Though the reverse of this coin clearly references the later retelling of the story, Sextus may well have identified more closely with the original form as related by Lycurgus: "A stream of fire burst forth from Etna. This stream, so the story goes, flowing over the countryside, drew near a certain city of the Sicilians. Most men, thinking of their own safety, took to flight; but one of the youths, seeing that his father, now advanced in years, could not escape and was being overtaken by the fire, lifted him up and carried him. Hindered no doubt by the additional weight of his burden, he too was overtaken. And now let us observe the mercy shown by the Gods towards good men. For we are told that the fire spread round that spot in a ring and only those two men were saved, so that the place is still called the Place of the Pious, while those who had fled in haste, leaving their parents to their fate, were all consumed." Estimate: 11000 GBP |  |
Match 2:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > Auction XXVII | Auction date: 22 March 2023 |
| Lot number: 623 Price realized: 1,100 GBP (Approx. 1,346 USD / 1,247 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Sextus Pompey AR Denarius. Uncertain mint in Sicily (Catania?), 42-40 BC. MAG [PIV]S IMP ITER (partially ligate), diademed and bearded head of Neptune to right; trident over left shoulder / Naval trophy set on anchor, top of trident visible above helmet; the arms composed of the stem of a prow in right and aplustre in left, two heads of Scylla at base, PRÆF C[LAS ET ORÆ M]ARIT EX S C (partially ligate) around. Crawford 511/2b; BMCRR Sicily 16-17; CRI 333; Sydenham 1347; RSC Sextus Pompey 1a; RBW 1784. 3.52g, 19mm, 6h. Good Extremely Fine. Ex Jonathan P. Rosen Collection, Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 108, 16 May 2018, lot 528; Ex Italo Vecchi Ltd., Nvmmorvm Avctiones 6, 9 June 1997, lot 1015. Estimate: 1000 GBP |  |
Match 3:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 103 | Auction date: 24 November 2022 |
| Lot number: 919 Price realized: 280 GBP (Approx. 340 USD / 327 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Sextus Pompey AR Denarius. Uncertain mint in Sicily (Catania?), 42-40 BC. [MAG•PIVS•IMP•ITER], bare head of Pompey Magnus to right, capis behind, lituus before / Neptune standing to left, holding aplustre and resting foot on prow, between the Catanaean brothers Anapias and Amphinomus advancing in opposite directions and carrying their parents on their shoulders; [PRAEF] (ligate) above, CLAS•ET•ORAE [MARIT]•EX•S•C• (partially ligate) in two lines in exergue. Crawford 511/3a; CRI 334; BMCRR Sicily 7; RSC 17 (Pompey the Great). 3.70g, 18mm, 1h. Near Very Fine; banker's marks. From a private UK Collection. Estimate: 50 GBP |  |
Match 4:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 106 | Auction date: 16 February 2023 |
| Lot number: 757 Price realized: 360 GBP (Approx. 432 USD / 405 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Sextus Pompey AR Denarius. Uncertain mint in Sicily (Catania?), 42-40 BC. MAG•P[IVS•IMP•ITER], bare head of Pompey Magnus to right, capis behind, lituus before / Neptune standing to left, holding aplustre and resting foot on prow, between the Catanaean brothers Anapias and Amphinomus advancing in opposite directions and carrying their parents on their shoulders; [PRAEF] (ligate) above, CLAS•ET•ORAE [MARI]T•EX•S•C• (partially ligate) in two lines in exergue. Crawford 511/3a; CRI 334; BMCRR Sicily 7; RSC 17 (Pompey the Great). 3.34g, 19mm,12h. Good Very Fine; beautiful old cabinet tone. Estimate: 500 GBP |  |
Match 5:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > Auction XXVII | Auction date: 22 March 2023 |
| Lot number: 599 Price realized: 7,000 GBP (Approx. 8,563 USD / 7,933 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus AR Denarius. M. Minatius Sabinus, proquaestor. Corduba 46-45 BC. CN•MAGN IMP, bare head of imperator to right / Corduba city-goddess standing to right, raising hand to greet Pompeian soldier, another city-goddess kneeling to left, presenting soldier with shield, PR•Q upwards to left; M•MINAT SABI in two lines in exergue. Crawford 470/1b; CRI 52; BMCRR Spain 80; ACIP 4013; RSC Minatia 3 and Pompeia 12. NGC graded Ch XF 4/5 - 3/5 (#5872212-001). Extremely Rare. Ex WTR Collection, Heritage World Coin Auctions, NYINC Signature Sale 3097, 10 January 2022, lot 30058. The eldest son of Pompey Magnus, Cnaeus Pompeius (also commonly referred to as Pompey Junior) and his brother Sextus grew up in the long shadow of their father's fame as the greatest general of his age. The elder Pompey had seemed to hold the whole Roman world in the palm of his hand, yet in the struggle for mastery of the Republic against his former friend and ally Caesar, Pompey was forced to abandon Italy with his family, and was utterly undone at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. Defeated, Pompey and his family took flight to Egypt where the general believed they would be safe, since the boy king Ptolemy XIII was indebted to the friendship and the help Pompey had given to his father. Upon their arrival in Egypt however, Pompey was treacherously murdered by a former comrade on the orders of the Egyptian king, who had been advised that this would forestall further civil war, and ingratiate him with Caesar. Stabbed to death by sword and daggers, his head severed and his unclothed body thrown into the sea, Pompey died the day after his sixtieth birthday. Horrified, his family put back out to sea. Cnaeus and Sextus joined the remainder of the resistance to Caesar in Africa, and after the defeat at Thapsus the brothers escaped to the Balearic islands, whence they crossed over to the Spanish mainland with Titus Labienus, a former lieutenant of Caesar. Struck at Corduba, which became the Pompeian military headquarters, this coin is laden with symbolism. The reverse is as imaginative and unusual as any reverse in the Republican series, and propagandises the welcome received by the brothers in Spain, which readily provided them with the means with which to continue the fight against Caesar. The obverse bears the first securely datable portrait of their dead father Pompey Magnus, whose success in bringing the Sertorian War to a close in 71 BC would still have been remembered in Spain. The legend names 'Cnaeus Magnus Imperator', a pious statement that the authority behind the striking of this coinage is that of the wronged and murdered Pompey Magnus, on whose behalf the resistance to Caesar was taken up by his son. This coin must have been struck only shortly before the Pompeian and Caesarean armies met on 17 March 45 BC; the extreme rarity of the issue argues for a limited production run. At the Battle of Munda, some 70,000 troops commanded by Cnaeus, Sextus, and Titus Labienus met Caesar's battle-hardened veteran force of 40,000. The result of the contest was a decisive victory for Caesar; Labienus was killed along with around 30,000 Pompeian troops, and the brothers Cnaeus and Sextus were once again forced to flee. Cnaeus was quickly captured and executed, but Sextus would survive his brother in Sicily for over a decade. Estimate: 10000 GBP |  |
