| Note |
This unique coin lies among the coins of Buthrotum in the B collection, but its style has nothing in common with the Buthrotum series, as stated by Grant, FITA, p. 152, n. 5. The presence of the names of duoviri quinquennales on the reverse suggests a colonial or a municipal coinage. Grant offered the reading M.VEHIL.TVS[ ]TVRPIL.PRIS, suggesting the names M. Vehilius Tus(cus) (?) and Turpilianus Priscus. But no dot is visible between L and what Grant takes for a T, and it is possible that the name VEHILIVS is written in full, instead of the more complicated reading VEHIL.TVS.Anyway there is no room for any letters between . . .] VS and TVRPIL. Grant proposed a Sardinian origin for this coin for the following reasons: (I) the curious form of the plough, also found at Turris Libisonis (622); (2) the occurrence of the rare name Vehilius on an inscription also from Turris Libisonis (GIL X, 7967). He might be right, but the legend which he deciphered as MVPIVS is far from certain and his interpretation as MV(nicipium) P(ium) I(ulium) VS(elis) highly conjectural. Therefore this Augustan coin is here considered as uncertain, though a western origin (Sardinia or Sicily) looks the most plausible.
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