Roman Republic Denarius Serratus 79BC Naevius Balbus RRC 382/1b

Obverse: Head of Venus, right, wearing diadem. Border of dots.
Reverse: C·NA͡E·BA͡LB, Victory in triga, right, holding reins in both hand. Border of dots.
Date: 79 B.C. 
ID: Crawford (RRC) 382/1b
Size: 18mm diameter, 3.88g weight
Composition: Silver

Venus was the Roman goddess of love and Victory was the winged goddess of military victory. The denarius serratus was a variant of the denarius produced with serrated edges - the exact purpose of those edges is still debated, but they were possibly designed to deter counterfeiters (making it easier to see if the core of the coin was actually silver instead of base metal). 

This denarius was produced shortly after Sulla resigned the dictatorship, signaling an end to the bloody era started by the Roman civil war of 83-82 B.C. and followed by Sulla's brutal proscriptions (condemning his enemies to death without trial, along with the seizure of all of their assets by the state and a reward to whoever murdered them). The coin features a rare depiction of a three-horse chariot (triga), one of only two denarii to feature that instead of the more traditional two- (biga) or four- (quadriga) horse chariots.