Roman Republic Æ Sextans(6.82g, 20mm). Cluvius Saxula, moneyer, 169-158 BC. Rome mint(or perhaps Central Italian mint). Head of Mercury right wearing winged Petasos, •• above / Prow of galley right; SAX above, •• before, ROMA below. Crawford 180/5; Russo RBW 765/(Central Italian Mint); Sydenham 361d
From the description of NAC 61 lot 761(which is now in the ANS coll.): "We maintain that the series SAX and C.SAX were issued by the same magistrate, even if the former was struck in central Italy while the latter was minted in Rome. This can be deduced from not only the very different styles of the two series, but also from the presence of the mariners on the deck of the SAX series, which is typical of the issues struck in Central Italy"
The SAX bronzes are in general considerably rarer than the C•SAX bronzes, though they are often confused. Even if the C may be off-flan, you can distinguish between the two by looking at the prow, in particular whether it's totally flat on top or whether like this example it has a flat deckhouse that rises up. This sextans is to my knowledge the sixth known example of the type, the others known to me being: The RBW(NAC 61, lot 761)=Goodman(CNG 45 lot 1405) example, now ANS 2011.79.68; Another RBW example, CNG e-364 lot 114; Centauro 3 lot 190, now in a private collection; BNF REP-8806; BM 1867,0101.1490
Crawford actually cites 2 BNF examples, however via the ANS and BNF websites I can only find 1. I suspect
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