Inevitably, the visually least attractive coin is the most historically important and
rare! This is in fact what the game is all about.
The centre coin is an As of the
Lex Papiria series, inscribed
L.P.D.A.P. From the Brill dictionary:
Lex Papiria de Assis Pondere: Reduction stage of bronze
money introduced in 91 BC based on the
lex Papiria (Plin. HN 33,46;
RRC, p. 77; 596), according to which the as was
reduced to 1/24 of the
Roman pound (Libra [1]) = 13,64 g [1]. A
part of these
asses with the
head of Ianus on the
obverse show the letters L·P·D·A·P on the
reverse above the
prora (ship's bow), possibly for the words lege
Papiria de assis pondere (
RRC 338/1; p. 611).
The coin is much better preserved than the photo suggests, and is an encrusted near-VF for wear. So it may benefit from some expert cleaning (or it may not, I've never successfully cleaned an ancient coin). The
reverse and
obverse are
complete and centred, with the letters LPDAP quite clear, and for that reason I paid quite a lot for it (many multiples what Adrian paid for it). So, it's a
superb addition, despite not being photogenic.
Pliny book 33 is all about metals, and contains various commentaries on coinage, most which have proved over time incorrect, but in this case, the
inscription on the coin proves him right. Here is the relevant chapter:
notae argenti fuere
bigae atque quadrigae; inde
bigati quadrigatique dicti. mox lege
Papiria semunciarii
asses facti. Livius
Drusus in tribunatu plebei octavam partem aeris argento miscuit. is, qui nunc
victoriatus appellatur, lege Clodia percussus est; antea enim hic
nummus ex Illyrico advectus mercis loco habebatur. est autem signatus
Victoria, et inde nomen.
Here is a
quadrans from the series: unusually, the value mark on the
reverse is in the form of three small dots over the lettering, which is a form of play or punning by the die-engraver, as the value mark has two uses at the same time, since it can also be read as the points between the letters.
These coins with LPDAP are all quite
rare, some of them very
rare indeed.
=====================================================
The second most attractive coin in the group, the one at bottom, also has a story to tell. It looks like an anonymous bronze As of
RRC 56, but it is not. In fact it is an unpublished variant of the Staff and Club series which I chatted about on list a few days ago. Here is what I have to say about it:
Mint:
Etruria. Second Punic war. Related to
RRC 106 staff and club. Obverses are in high relief with wide staring eyes and thick hairlines in Etruscan
style. Reverses are concave, on thick dumpy flans, and often flat struck at edges. Prows have line-bounded prowstems, square deck structures, and a prominent line to the left of the deck structure. The keel lines are widely spaced at left and converge into prominent
rostrum tridens. All
denominations As through
Uncia are known. The
weight standard is about 35 grams.
This is an anonymous issue produced in large volumes, characterized by
obverse heads with large bulging eyes and very thick and wavy hairlines with every strand clearly distinguished. Due to the clarity with which the hair is
engraved and the prominence of the eyes, even very worn specimens are easily distinguished. The
reverse prow always has three converging lines at keel level, bounded usually but not always by a line
border at left. On clear specimens one can see that the lower keel line forms the lower prong of the
rostrum tridens, whilst the upper two lines converge into the middle prong; the upper prong being supplied by a separate curve that extends from the prowstem. There is a flat-topped deck structure sitting on a slightly angled structure (fighting platform?). There may be a line sloping down to the right between the deck structure and the prowstem, but this is often missing. On the left of the deck structure there is always a long horizontal line, which is likely just the usual left-hand extension of the deck structure rather than being intended as a staff. All the lines of the
reverse are very thick and prominent, in a similar manner to the
obverse hairlines. Prows have sometimes a defined boundary at their left hand
side, separated from the left hand
border of the coin.
A special feature of this coinage is the use of apparently convex
reverse dies, as there is a notable concave impression on the
reverse side of many coins, and a corresponding though less noticeable convex
obverse shape. Coins which are weakly struck often have a completely flat unstruck
area of
flan at the
reverse border, whilst the centre of the
reverse is
still concave. This shows that the flans were flat and the dies convex. Here is a
quadrans from the series that matches Adrian's new As in
style; the concave
reverse surface is very evident:
Published examples include:
(1)
RRC pl.XI,7 As, BM.56.2.6, 36.02g
(2)
RRC pl.XI,10
Semis, Citta Ducale
hoard(3)
RRC pl.XI,12
Triens, BM.56.4.9, 10.17g
The relationship between this group
RRC 106 staff and club is shown by various
obverse style matches, indicating that the same die-cutters or stylistic guidelines were used as for
RRC 106. The
RRC 106 staff and club
Asses have very different
reverse design details, but there are stylistic similarities in their obverses, for example broad
obverse head with larger staring eyes. Thus the relationship with
RRC 106 staff and club is shown by
obverse styles that clearly relate to coins of this
type, with wide-open bulging eyes and hair
style in thick wavy lines.
This coincidence of
obverse die-cutting
style between
RRC 106 and these coins – which is to be found on all
denominations – may not, of course, indicate the same
mint (the engravers may have travelled, or the
portrait style may be historically traditional to
Etruria), but they do indicate a certain link. These coins can thus be placed in
Etruria. Existing
hoard reports, without illustrations, will often have categorised these as
RRC 56, so it would worthwhile to re-examine RRCH 97 from Citta Ducale at the
border of
Latium and
Etruria, which is reported as having seven bronzes of the staff series along with eight other
signed pieces and 70 anonymous sextantal bronzes. Perhaps many of the latter are anonymous pieces of this
style. It is notable and unsurprising that the
Semis of this design illustrated as an example of
RRC 56 by
Crawford –
RRC pl.XI,10 – indeed
comes from the Citta Ducale
hoard.
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The third coin is the
Opeimia As. It is, as mentioned by the previous poster, attractive.
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This sort of information is what
Republican bronzes are all about. This is it. It's not about attractiveness. It's about
history and new discoveries.
There are
plenty other coins available at the vendor where these three came from (i.e. ex-McCabe-collection coins are readily and inexpensively available) including another much rarer
denomination LPDAP
type. Virtually every one could justify a write-up as lengthy as this.
But it's not about attractiveness, and to seek out nice-looking
Republican bronzes sort of misses the point. It's about the stuff I write above,
rarity,
history, new discoveries.
This is the game.Please join me in collecting these coin
types.
