Lead tesserae from Spain

[Britannicus]

I've got a selection of lead tesserae from Roman Spain that I haven't had too much joy with... 
Perhaps the specialists on this board will be able to tell me more?

Here's the easiest one, which I've managed to find in Casariego, Cores & Pliego, p. 12, a type which they claim is from Iptuci (no. 2). The obverse is very like the known coins of Iptuci; the reverse is blank.

- Francis

[Britannicus]

This one is harder, though it's also in Casariego et al., on p.43, no. 16 (c), among the "Assorted leads of medium size". It's 16mm. and 1.82g.
On the obverse is a little fellow holding his right arm over his head, with something dangling from his hand, and holding out his left arm over (or holding out) a hatched rectangle that might represent a tripod, altar or a cloak?
On the reverse are the letters MFC between palm-branches.
Casariego et al. have several leads with combinations of letters beginning MF... so I'm speculating that this item may be from Municipium Flavium C....., but which settlement might that be? Castulo, where there were huge silver, copper and lead mines nearby, sprang to mind, but I think the Castulans obtained their Latin rights long before Vespasian.

The harder ones are still to come!  

[Britannicus]

Everyone still on vacation? Anyway, here are the remaining Spanish leads. They are from the last remaining lot of a large group of tesserae from Spain.
The first one shows a helmeted Mars advancing r., holding something (a trophy?) over his shoulder with his left.  If this is based on what is a common reverse type on Flavian coins, he will also be holding a spear in his right (it's not visible here). There may also be somthing on the reverse, but I can't make it out. Size 23 mm., weight 5.10 g.

[Britannicus]

The next one (16 mm., 3.39 g) has a phallus on the clearer side. The others side could show a trident, or a two-pronged fork, or a horse to l.

[Britannicus]

The next one is larger (24 mm., 5.90 g) and shows an eagle standing facing, with spread wings and head to r., the design surrounded by a band within unbroken lines containing either decoration or lettering or both. The other side also has such a band, and within it is a disc with radiating spokes containing some kind of image: depending on which way up it is, it could be a facing bust or a lion's head to l.?

[quadrans]

Hmmm, Nice set of Tessera..



Congratulation..

 Q.

[Andrew McCabe]

Great Tessarae

Clive Stannard has studied Spanish tessarae in the late Republic. His website

http://www.stannard.info/website/Publications.html

Any of the publications with Baetica or Spain in the title are likely to have information about your Tessarae.

[Britannicus]

Thanks! And here's the last one, which could even be the "half-denomination" of the previous one: it's smaller (16 mm., 4.44 g), with an eagle to l. with spread wings and head turned back. The other side has something like crossed torches within a wreath.
Who can help further with these difficult items?
- Francis

[Britannicus]

Hi Andrew, thanks for the link. I did know some of the publications, because I was following Clive Stannard's work on the "pseudo-mints". But none of the types on my leads show up in his essays. (I'd love to have a man-with-a shovel type, though, or a boy-tying-a-man's-sandal.)
- Francis

[Ardatirion]

This is a lovely group of Spanish leads you have here. I believe that the majority of the ones you posted date to the late 1st-mid 3rd centuries AD. The striking of lead coins in the area appears to have started a bit earlier than that, in the 2nd century BC with some big pieces, and with the small ones discussed by Stannard. The fact that several bear the names of municipia Flavia imply that at least certain types cannot date earlier than Vespasian's reconstruction.

I think the phallic type you posted might be Italian in origin. Now, an example of this type was found at Minturnae, which shares a number of lead and bronze types with Baetica, but this particular type is cast, as is characteristic of tesserae from around Rome. Does yours have a Spanish provenance?

Phallus
Two-pronged pitchfork
Rostovstev 919 corr. (rev. description); Minturnae 49

Here is one of my pieces from Oducia. I have a number more of the Spanish issues. I will try to upload them this weekend for you.

MF/OD within wreath (Municipium Flavium Oducensis)
Blank
Cf. Casariego, Cores, & Pliego 14b

I'm afraid there are precious few references beyond those you already have. Here are a few:
Medas, Stefano, Mechtild Overbeck, and Novella Vismara. 1996. Minturnae Antiqaurium: Monete Dal Garigliano II. Rome: Soprintendenza Archeologica per il Lazio. (A site in Italy with Spanish-related lead and bronze)
Serrano, Bartolomé Mora. 2003. “Un Depósito de Plomos Monetiformes de Procedencia Bética Conservado En El Museo Arqueológico Nacional.” In XIII Congresso Internacionale de Numismaticá (Madrid 2003), 517–522.

A list of settlements in Baetica, including Municipia Flavia.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo:Poblaciones_romanas_de_la_B%C3%A9tica

[Britannicus]

Hi Ardatirion,
Thanks for the information. Yes, the last four of the leads that I posted (includuing the phallic type) were together as part of a lot from Spain. Most of the group had already been sold, and I cherrypicked the best of the rest. The remaining leads had very little visible detail.
The list of settlements in Baetica includes several Municipia Flavia with names beginning with "C", so I probably won't be able to pin the MFC lead down more closely...   
By the way, and on a slightly different subject, I see that in your gallery you have a lead from Egypt with Eros/Head of hippocamp (?), attributed (following Milne) to Aphroditopolis. I also have one. On neither of our specimens are the details very clear. But Stannard in his powerpoint presentation The iconography of two groups of struck lead from central Italy and Baetica in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. illustrates a much better specimen, an "unprovenanced tessera in the British Museum", which reveals that Eros is not chasing a bird but a locust. And the "hippocamp head" looks to me more like a theatrical mask of the Silenos type.
- Francis