Pre-Long Beach Auction #80

Mn. Fonteius C.f. Silver Denarius (4.20 g), 85 BC. Rome. (MN) FO(NT)EI behind, C F below chin, laureate head of Vejovis right; below, thunderbolt. Reverse Infant Genius seated on goat right; above, pilei of the Dioscuri; in exergue, filleted thyrsus; all within laurel wreath. Crawford 353/1c; Sydenham 724a; Fonteia 10. Lustrous and lightly toned. Nearly Mint State.

The moneyer is perhaps the brother of the moneyer M. Fonteius (see Crawford 347) and not inconceivably the tribune featured on the reverse of Crawford 429/1 (see the coin of P. Fonteius P.f. Capito below).

The reverse recalls that the god Jupiter was suckled by the she-goat Amaltheia on Mt. Ida during his infancy, and depicts a statue that was within the Temple of Vejovis in Rome.
Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,200.
Ex Tkalec (29 February 2008), 106.