First, Class I, Pixtilos, Griffon attacking, 40 - 30 B.C. (La Tour 7064)
Its not the best example, but its a rare coin. I bid high, but not high enough on the last nicer piece I saw at auction. I hoped to upgrade, but I'm going to have to spend more than I ariginally thought to do so when the next opportunity comes along. The obverse bust is believed to be modelled after the head of Venus on a denarius struck by Julius Caesar during his African campaign in 47 - 46 B.C. (Crawford 458/1). I had my choice of two nice pieces. I took one with a banker's mark, it saved me a few hundred and I liked the evidence of use since it didn't detract from the portrait (my primary interest).
The second Pixtilos piece is one I posted a few months ago. Class V with seated goddess on the reverse, 40 - 30 B.C. (La Tour 7058)
Its a much niver example than the previous piece. Its prototype is rarer than the Caesar denarius, but I found a nice example from an old Swedish collection at the San Francisco Historical Bourse. The denarius of Sabinus features King Tatius. It was minted in 70 B.C. in Rome (Crawford 404/1). It has a planchet fault about 11 o'clock. It doesn't disrupt the portrait and it knocked a $1,000 off the price. It was a nice find. I saw two others at the show, both well centered on good planchets for $1,300 to $1,500. I'm happy with mine.
