I happened by a round-about means to take up, this morning, Smyth's catalogue of
the Duke of Northumberland collection and something caused me to check its entry
on Crepusius, which led me to this very long shaggy-dog story.

How it happened was that on another list someone presented a denarius of M.CARBO
for identification; the coin was not of great interest per-se but what the
questioner had not noticed is that its envelope was inscribed Duke of
Northumbria collection, Alnwick castle. Intriguing, and as I have the catalogue
of said collection I looked up the reference for M.CARBO, and cited it verbatim
as follows (lengthy; if you want to get to Anxurus you have my permission to
skip the next few paragraphs!):

The Descriptive Catalogue of a Cabinet of Roman Family Coins belonging to His
Grace the Duke of Northumberland K.G. by Rear Admiral William Henry Smyth,
K.S.F., D.C.L., F.R.S., printed for private circulation, MDCCCLVI.

PAPIRIA
Obverse - Absque epigraphe. The winged-helmed head of Pallas regarding the
right, with the denarial X in front of the neck, and a laurel-branch at its
back. A denarius of better-fabric and in high conservation, it is small in
spread yet weighs 58.7 grains [3.80 grams].
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/3515152871/

Reverse - M(arcus) Carbo. Jupiter fulminans in a fast currus-quadrigae, with a
sceptre and reins in his left hand, and brandishing a fulmen in his right. By
the praenomen as well as the workmanship, we are able to assume that it was
coined about 93 years before our era. Numismatic authors term this a plebeian
gens; and it seems that the Papirii thought themselves so also, till Cicero put
Papirius Paetus to the rights on that head in the letter, ad.Fam.ix.21, so
genealogical and so truly descriptive of a Roman family, that I am inclined to
place it here :-

Cicero ad.Fam.ix.21
"How came you to imagine that all your family have been plebeians, when it is
certain that many of them were patricians of the lower order? To begin with the
first in this catalogue, I will instance Lucius Papirius Magillanus, who in the
year of Rome 312 [444 BC] was censor with Lucius Sempronius Atratinus, as he
before had been his colleague in the Consulate. At this time your family-name
was Papisius. After him there were thirteen of your ancestors who were curule
magistrates before Lucius Papirius Crassus, who was the first of your family
that changed the name of Papisius. This Papirius in the year 315 BC being chosen
dictator, appointed Lucius Papirius Castor to be his master of the horse; and
four years after he was elected consul [AM: modern records indeed show a Lucius
Papirius as consul for 311 BC] together with Caius Duilius. Next in this list
appears Cursor, a man highly honoured in his generation, as after him we find
Lucius Masso, the aedile, together with several others of the same appellation.
And I could wish you had the portraits of all these patricians among your family
pictures.

"The Carbones and the Turdi follow next. This branch of your family were all of
them plebeians; and they by no means reflect any honour upon your race. For,
excepting Caius Carbo, who was murdered by Damasippus, there was not one of this
name who was not an enemy to his country.

"There was another Caius whom I personally knew, as well as the buffoon, his
brother; and they men of the most worthless character. As to the son of Rubria,
he was my friend; for which reason I shall pass him over in silence, and only
mention his three brothers, Caius, Cneius and Marcus. Marcus [AM: the presumed
moneyer] having committed numberless acts of violence and oppression in Sicily,
was prosecuted for those crimes by Publius Flaccus, and found guilty: Caius
likewise impeached by Lucius Crassus, is said to have poisoned himself with
cantharides. He was the author of great disturbances during the time that he
exercised the office of tribune; and is supposed to have been concerned in the
murder of Scipio Africanus. As to Cneius, who was put to death by my friend
Pompey at Lilybaeum, there never existed [see note by Smyth below] I believe a
more infamous character. It is generally imagined that the father of this man,
in order to avoid the consequences of a prosecution which was commenced against
him by Marcus Antonius, put an end to his life by a draught of vitriol.

"Thus, my friend, I would advise you to claim your kindred among the patricians;
for you see the plebeian part of your family were but a worthless and seditious
race.

Note by Smyth: History fully bears out Cicero's indignant invectice. This man,
Papirius Carbo, was three times Consul of proud Republican Rome; the last of
which was in the year 82BC, just after the Capitol had been burnt down, and
there was a suspicion of it being incendiary. Having revelled in wanton outrage,
and exercised his power as tyrannically and savagely as Cinna had done before
him, he was deposed by Sylla, to the infinate joy of the people, who, says
Plutarch, "no longer hoping for liberty, sought only the most tolerable
servitude" After various ineffectual but sanguinary struggles with his
arch-enemy, Carbo basely deserted his generals, and soon afterwards reappeared
as a piratical sea-king; but being caught and brought in chains before Pompey,
the latter, after a broadside of bitter invective, publicly executed the Roman
of three consulships, and sent his head as a present to Sylla. These rulers of
the world were a precious lot!

So says Smyth about this coin. Can you imagine a modern catalogue with such a
wonderfully meandering entry? I think not! As to dating, Smythe says 93BC;
Crawford agrees with the designation of the person as being the same Marcus,
cited in the above letter by Cicero, who committed acts of violence in Sicily
but places the date as moneyer as 122BC: it could be that the tradition of
moneyers being young men rather than in the prime of their political careers had
not yet been recognised in 1856, but it does not matter in any event because if
you've read this far we've all learnt a lot about Roman history and numismatics
as well as the character of Cicero. The felicity of seeing your coin with the
word Northumbria leading to this story is why I love the books almost more than
the coins and why I've published a website about such books:
http://andrewmccabe.ancients.info

Of course, having picked it up, I could not immediately put down the Duke of
Northumberland's book, Smyth's crazy text is unforgettable. Here is some of what
he says about the extremely rare Numitoria denarius:

"This coin is in rather secondary condition but extremely rare; yet Echkel marks
it C, a lapsus which led a continental knicknackaterian also to class it common,
and suggest one ducat as its price. Had he brought two or three to London in
good conservation, he might have charged from five to eight or even ten guineas
each for them. So much for pricing! I should add, for the information of the
numismatic tyro that though Italy, the land of many "finds", is a country where
this class of coin is often offered, I would warn the young collector against
purchasing without a rigorous inspection: in fact without the aid of a duly
qualified friend.

And on a Hirtius aureus http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/3352114222

"This coin is rare, but not extremely so; and being only known in gold, it is
remarkable how it escaped the manifold dangers of fraudulent human digits, the
cupidity of dealers, and the oblivious melting pot."

Why do modern books have to be so dull?!? Smyth really knew how to add life to
Northumberland's coins, despite being unillustrated the coins come across in
fresh blazing colours. "KNICKNACKATERIAN" would be great name for a coin
dealership!!!! And what exactly does he have against Italy and its supposed
"finds"?!? Surely he is not suggesting that shock, horror, forgeries might
sometimes be on sale!

Just on the offchance I looked up a another coin, that of Crepusius.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/3538901686/

Now many on this list will know that Professor Buttrey has long studied this
series, and considers the obverse type to be Juppiter Axur, and not Apollo as is
commonly thought. Professor Buttrey has done a great deal of research on the
type and I would not even pretend to know more than a snippet of the story, but
in conversation he alerted me to the fact that the sceptre behind the head on
the Crepusius coin is more usually associated with Jupiter rather than Apollo,
and the coin can be compared with that of Censorinus, which has no sceptre and
was obviously cut by the same engraver:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/4004058615

Jupiter Axur comes from the Latin town of Terracina, which appears in ancient
sources with two names: the Latin Tarracina and the Volscian Anxur (Plin. NH
3.59: "lingua Volscorum Anxur dictum"). The latter is the name of Jupiter
himself as a youth (Iuppiter Anxur or Anxurus), and was the tutelary god of the
city, venerated on the Mons Neptunius (current Monte S. Angelo), where a temple
dedicated to him still exists. Professor Buttrey drew my attention in particular
to the long hair as a symbol of youth, and that another denarius which names
Juppiter Axur also shows the god with long hair:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/3912942281/

Thus all seems to fit. But what of prior numismatists? Crawford says the obverse
is ?Apollo and says no more. Grueber, the usual repository of longer numismatic
history, also says Apollo without comment; even his inevitable footnote says
nothing different. Babelon/RSC1 say Apollo too. All say that nothing is known
about the Crepusia family (Professor Buttrey may have more to say on that
matter). But in Smyth's overlooked 1856 catalogue here is what it says:

Obverse, Sine epigraphe. A frowning juvenile laureated head, with a bare neck.
It has generally been called Apollo, but as there are young whiskers on his
cheek, and that deity is never seen with hair on his face, it is more likely to
be Angry Vejovis or Anxurus. Behind the head is a sceptre and the numeral X, in
front a flower.
Reverse, A warrior on horseback gallops across the field, in the act of
vibrating a javelin with his right hand. Over his shoulders are the numerals
CLXXXXV, and on the exergue P(ublius) CREPVSI(us). There can be nothing said
with accuracy as to the meaning of this device, both from the absence of a more
copious legened and the family's being but little known but ancient.
[Another] denarius resembles the above, except in bearing a different mint-mark
and numeral, having in front of the portrait the strombus clavus, or trumpet
shell. Those who, like the rabid collector of turnpike tickets, wish for the
whole of the varieties of this coin, will find other copies with a thunderbolt,
priestly apex, apple, tortoise, wheat-ear, leaf, lituus, bird, bird's wing,
crescent, star, and - what not? But although these stamps only multiply
specimens, and shew the redundance of the mint, without increasing their real
historical value, they are nevertheless desirable in full collections.

If we can generously overlook the reference to "rabid collectors of turnpike
tickets" (dear Ted, I am sure Admiral Smyth was not referring to you...) this to
me is as clear an example as ever of the habit we have in numismatics of coming
to very important deductions, in this case about Juppiter Anxurus by Smyth, and
then losing same in the very next publication (Babelon and Gruber). Oh dear.

It is a reason that I really value old books for more than their thick paper and
pretty bindings. They are worth reading for the information within.

Andrew McCabe