Crawford 331/1, Roman Republic, 99 BC., moneyer Publius Vettius Sabinus, Quinarius

Roman Republic (Rome mint 99 BC.), moneyer Publius Vettius Sabinus.
Quinarius (13-15 mm, 1,91 g), silver, axis about coin alignment ?? (ca. 160°),
Obv.: Laureate head of Jupiter r., behind, control mark P• (with at least one pellet).
Rev.: P. SABIN / Q , Victory standing r., crowning trophy with wreath; in field r., control mark P• (with at least three pellets).
Crawford 331/1 . Syd. 587 . Seaby Vettia 1 .
Nicely toned perfect black patina in fields. Few red-brown sand layers at more protected areas. .

This type of quinary takes up the typology of the Victoriat which had disappeared for almost a century.

In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who supervised the state treasury and conducted audits. When assigned to provincial governors, the duties were mainly administrative and logistical, but also could expand to encompass military leadership and command. It was the lowest ranking position in the cursus honorum (course of offices); by the first century BC, one had to have been quaestor to be eligible for any other posts.
We do not know about the career of P. Vettius Sabinus after his quaestorship. For H. A. Seaby, the Q in the exergue does not designate the public function (Quaestor) of P. Vettius Sabinus, but the monetary denomination (Quinarius).

This quinarius seems rarer than general catalogs suggest. For this type Crawford estimated 100 obverse dies and also 100 reverse dies. The coupling of dies links each obverse to a unique reverse. Normally, with some exceptions, each letter of the alphabet is used in association with one or more pellets. Each obverse die is associated with a specific reverse die, determined on our specimen by an P, placed between one or three pellets.