098-117 AD - TRAJAN AE quadrans - struck 104-110 AD

obv: IMP CAES TRAIAN AVG GER DAC (laureate head right)
rev: METALLI VLPIANI (Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopia)
ref: RIC II 709 (R2), Cohen 182 (30frcs)
3.23gms, 17mm
Very rare

Under Trajan and Hadrian several series of bronze quadrantes were struck in the name of the imperial mines in Noricum, Dalmatia, Pannonia and Moesia (Dardania). These operations supplied metal for the mint at Rome, and perhaps were the sites of workshops to produce coinage for local circulation or as donatives. Others theorize that these pieces were struck at Rome itself, and served some unidentified function,much as the contemporary "nome" coinage struck at Alexandria in Egypt. The exact denomination is unclear. Most appear to be quadrans in the 14-17mm range but some larger examples could be considered semisses.