A POSTUMIUS SILVER DENARIUS – ISSUE WITH HEAD OF HISPANIA – CHOICE XF 5/5 5/5 NGC GRADED ROMAN REPUBLICAN COIN (Inv. 19776)

Description

19776. ROMAN REPUBLIC. A. POSTUMIUS ALBINUS. Ca. 81 BC.
Silver Serrate Denarius, 3.96 g, 19 mm. Issue of Rome.
Obv. HISPAN, veiled bust of Hispania right. Rev. S N / A / ALBIN (AL ligate), Togate figure standing left raising hand in adlocutio (gesture of speaking), aquila at left and fasces at right, POST A F in exergue.
Crawford 372/2; Sydenham 746.
NGC graded CHOICE XF, Strike 5/5, Surface 5/5, spectacular strike with golden highlights.

This denarius advertises the glorious ancestors of the moneyer A. Postumius Albinus at a time when the importance of his family in Roman politics was on the decline. The obverse features the personification of the province of Hispania, where his ancestor, the proconsul L. Postumius Albinus, campaigned against the Celtiberian Vaccaei and Lusitani in 180 BC. He was awarded a triumph in Rome for his Spanish victories. The togate figure giving a speech on the reverse is probably intended to represent the moneyer’s grandfather, Spurius Postumius Albinus Magnus, who held the consulship in 148 BC (indicated by the fasces) and was respected by Cicero as a skilled orator.