REPUBLICAN ANONYMOUS SILVER VICTORIATUS – ISSUE OF LUCERIA – MINT STATE FINE STYLE NGC GRADED ROMAN COIN (Inv. 19773)

$1,250.00

19773. ROMAN REPUBLIC. ANONYMOUS ISSUE, ca. 211–208 BC.
Silver Victoriatus, 3.13 g, 18 mm. Issue of Luceria.
Obv. Laureate head of Jupiter right. Rev. ROMA, Victory standing right, crowning trophy, L (for mint of Luceria) in center field.
Crawford 97/1a; Sydenham 121.
NGC graded MINT STATE, Strike 5/4, Surface 4/5, FINE STYLE, with a simply marvelous rendering of Jupiter.

The Romans introduced the victoriatus alongside the denarius around 211 BC. It was intended to be compatible with the Greek drachm and gained its name from the depiction of Victory crowning a trophy of arms on the reverse (perhaps an allusion to the fall of Syracuse to the Romans in the preceding year). Interestingly, in Greek, the denomination was known as the tropaikon, after the trophy, rather than the figure of Victory. The victoriatus continued to circulate until it ceased production in the mid–second century.