These coins were issued by the moneyer Quintus Pomponius Musa in 67 BC. Each is a silver denarius struck at Rome.

The head of Apollo is the obverse design for all. The Muses are depicted individually on the reverses, with a further one showing Hercules Musarum.

The moneyer's name occurs, downwards, on either side of the Muse, Q. POMPONI MVSA

Statues of the Muses were common in Antiquity and it has been suggested that the depictions on these coins represent those set up in the temple of Hercules and the nine Muses erected in 179 BC by M. Fulvius Nobiliter, conqueror of part of Greece.

By the first century Republican moneyers used designs which referred to their family and here Musa is punning on his name. These coins are the only evidence for the existance of Musa - and his sense of humour.