Marc Antony Legionary Silver Denarius 19mm 32-31 B.C

Marc Antony Legionary Silver Denarius 19mm (3.15g) 32-31 B.C. Military mint

Obv: ANT. AVG III.VIR.R.P.C War galley

Rev: Legionary eagle between two standards LEG V beneath

Cr-544/18, Syd-1221, C-32
ex. Dan Hoffman Collection, ex Harlan J. Berk

This is a really cool piece of ancient propaganda! You are looking at a Legionary Silver Denarius minted by the famous Roman general Marc Antony between 32 and 31 B.C.

Antony didn't just make this coin to be pretty—he made it to pay his massive army right before one of the most important showdowns in ancient history: the Battle of Actium against his ultimate rival, Octavian (who later became Rome's very first emperor, Augustus).

Here is the breakdown of what all the symbols and Latin abbreviations actually mean:

The Front Side (Obverse)

• The Picture: A sleek Roman war galley (a battleship) slicing through the water, complete with oars and a row of shields along the side.
• The Text: ANT. AVG III.VIR.R.P.C
• What it means: This is Antony bragging about his high-and-mighty status!
  • ANT. AVG stands for Antonius Augur. He's letting everyone know he is Marc Antony and a member of the prestigious college of priests (an Augur).
  • III.VIR.R.P.C stands for Triumvir Rei Publicae Constituendae. This translates to "One of Three Men for the Regulation of the Republic." It was his official legal title as a dictator-like ruler of the Roman world alongside Octavian and Lepidus.

The Back Side (Reverse)

• The Picture: A prominent legionary eagle (aquila) perched between two tall military standards. The eagle was the ultimate sacred symbol of a Roman legion—losing one in battle was considered a massive, shameful disaster.
• The Text: LEG V
• What it means: This specifies that this exact coin was dedicated to Legion V (The Fifth Legion, nicknamed Alaudae or "The Larks"). Antony minted different versions of this coin for almost all of his individual legions (from Legio I all the way up to XXIII) to make his soldiers feel special and valued.

The History Behind It

Antony was hanging out in Egypt with Queen Cleopatra while prepping for war. He needed to pay hundreds of thousands of soldiers and sailors, so he set up a traveling "military mint" that moved with his army.

Because he had to pump out millions of these silver coins incredibly fast, the silver quality was actually a little bit lower than normal Roman coins. Because they were slightly "debased" (meaning they had more copper mixed in than usual), later Romans didn't like melting them down. Thanks to that, tons of Antony's legionary coins survived, making them an awesome piece of history you can still hold today.