Pre-Long Beach Auction #80

L. Scribonius Libo. Silver Denarius (3.78 g), 62 BC. Rome. BON EVENT before, LIBO behind, diademed head of Bonus Eventus right. Reverse PVTEAL above, SCRIBON in exergue, garlanded well-head decorated with two lyres and anvil. Crawford 416/1c; Sydenham 928; Scribonia 8b. A mangificent strike and perfectly centered. Lustrous surfaces overlaid with delicate russet toning. A fantastic example and perhaps the finest known. Superb Mint State.

The reverse depicts the puteal Scribonianum (Scribonian well-head) which had been set up by a distant ancestor of the moneyer. The well-head was quite ornate, being either festooned with garlands or, more likely, engraved with their likeness, and was located near the arch of the Fabii in the Roman Forum. The type comes in three varieties, with either a pair of tongs, a hammer, or an anvil set at the base of the well-head (the last, of which our coin is a wonderfully pleasing example, is by far the scarcest of the three). Built upon a bidental, a spot that had been struck by lightening, the puteal Scribonianum served as an important meeting place for litigants and moneylenders in Rome as it was conveniently located near the praetor's tribunal. The obverse is appropriately dedicated to the deity Bonus Eventus, the bringer of good outcomes, who appealed equally to all parties involved in any legal dispute.
Estimated Value $3,000 - 4,000.
Ex NAC 63 (17 May 2012), 278; NAC 9 (16 April 1996), 703.