At
ROME, bronze coins were struck for Claudius in two large issues, the first without P P and the second with P P, that is the first between
his accession on 25 Jan. 41 and
his acceptance of the title
Pater Patriae less than a year later, between 1 and 12 Jan. 42, and the second after early January 42.
The
types were the same in both issues:
sestertii of Claudius with
types legend in
wreath OB CIVES SERVATOS,
SPES AVGVSTA, and
legend of
Nero Claudius Drusus around triumphal arch;
sestertius of
Nero Claudius Drusus with
rev. legend of Claudius around Claudius seated on curule chair set on globe among arms;
dupondius of Claudius with
rev. CERES AVGVSTA;
dupondius of
Antonia with
rev. legend of Claudius around standing
togate emperor;
asses of Claudius with
rev. CONSTANTIAE AVGVSTI,
LIBERTAS AVGVSTA, and
Minerva fighting r.;
quadrantes of Claudius with
types Modius and PNR, hand holding
scales.
PROVINCIAL MINTS, official and unofficial, on the other hand, struck these same
types for Claudius, usually without the quadrantes, almost exclusively without P P, so apparently during the first year of
his reign. There were only two exceptions of
provincial mints striking these
standard types of Claudius after he became P P:
1. The
Spanish mint, defined by the many
sestertii and
dupondii of this particular
style, including dozens of die duplicates, found in the Pobla de Mafumet
Hoard, struck most of its bronze coins for Claudius without P P, but, alone of the early
provincial mints, continued to strike for him early in 42, now with P P, this however being a much smaller issue which probably lasted only a month or two.
I show below a "Pobla"
dupondius of Claudius, this one of 41 (no P P), with the characteristic letter forms (particularly the Rs and Ms), often dots left and right of S C in
rev. exergue, and the characteristic
portrait with spikey hair locks. For comparison I also add a Rome-mint
dupondius of the second issue, with P P. (Both images from
CoinArchives)
