Pre-Long Beach Auction #80

Cn. Lentulus. Silver Denarius (4.01 g), 74 BC. Uncertain mint in Spain. G P R above, diademed and draped bust of the Genius of the Roman People right, scepter over shoulder. Reverse CN LEN Q in exergue, EX S C across field, scepter, globe, and rudder. Crawford 393/1a; Sydenham 752; Cornelia 54. Boldly struck and lustrous with delicate golden toning. Nearly Mint State.

Here we follow Harlan's revised dating to 74 BC as opposed to Crawford's 76 BC for this issue (see M. Harlan, Roman Republican Moneyers and Their Coins, 81 BCE-64 BCE, 2012, pp. 83-91). The revised date is based on the slight down-dating of the terminus of the Roncofreddo hoard as evidenced by the Mesagne hoard, Cn. Lentulus' own cursus honorem which makes a date for this issue in 75 too early, and most importantly a letter from Pompey to the Senate in Rome requesting money to pay his troops.

The letter from Pompey was recorded by Sallust (2.98), and was read before the Senate in January of 74. In it, Pompey states that he had already exhausted his own (considerable) personal resources and even gone into debt supporting his troops, yet they had only been paid for one year of service while they had already served for three. He threatened that if the Senate did not provide the necessary funds to pay his troops he would not only be unable to pursue the war against Sertorius, but that he would likely lose control of his legions and the war could be brought to Italy itself. With these dire warnings, the Senate found the money to pay Pompey's troops, authorizing Cn. Lentulus, ex senatus consulto, to strike the coins.

The year following this issue Cn. Lentulus struck an identical issue employing the same designs but with the unusual legend LENT CVR x FL, Curator denariorum flandorum. He did so because he was no longer quaestor with the responsibility of issuing coins to pay the troops, nor for that matter was he even a mint magistrate (thus the designation III VIR would not apply either), yet he was still responsible for making sure there was sufficient specie to finance military operations. We do not know if this title was official and had come from the Senate in Rome or if Lentulus merely invented the title to indicate his responsibility.
Estimated Value $600 - 700.
Ex NAC 51 (5 March 2009), 31; NAC 33 (6 April 2006), 257.