Roman Republic Æ Semis(27.26g, 29mm, 5h). Anonymous, in style of first Dolphin series, 209-208 BC, Sicilian mint. Laureate head of Saturn right, S behind/Prow of galley right, S above, ROMA below. McCabe anonymous group C2(this coin cited in “The Anonymous Bronze Coinage of the Roman Republic” in Essays Russo p. 138 as "27.27g (Artemide 16E lot 86, 2012)"). For style, cf Crawford 80/- with dolphin symbol(but no semis listed).
Privately purchased from a friend on 21 August 2023, ex Andrew McCabe collection, Roma Numismatics e-sale 5, 8 February 2014, lot 523, ex Artemide Aste 16E, 7 June 2012, lot 86
An extremely rare, very heavy, anonymous struck semis from the unsigned sibling series of the first dolphin series. There is no known signed dolphin semis from this series, so this is the closest thing a collector can acquire(except for later imitations of which there are a few different types with dolphin, including one in my collection). This coin cited but not illustrated in McCabe's paper on anonymous bronzes in Essays Russo. The only other example cited by McCabe and known to me is the example in the BNF cited alongside this one.