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Crawford 337/5, ROMAN REPUBLIC, D. Silanus, AE As
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Rome. The Republic
Decimus Silanus, 91 BCE
AE As (13.46g; 28mm)
Rome Mint.
Obverse: Head of Janus; I (mark of value = 1 As) above.
Reverse: Prow facing right; D SILANVS L F, above.
References: Crawford 337/5; Sydenham 649; BMCRR 1853-8; Junia 23; RBW 1234 (this coin).
Provenance: Ex Roma Auction XI (7 Apr 2016), Lot 590; ex RBW Collection [NAC 63 (2012), Lot 9]; purchased privately from Freeman & Sear 14 Jan 2006.
The moneyer is unknown except for his coins. The As is the only denomination of bronze coin known to have been struck in Silanus’s name. There was a full series of contemporaneous, anonymous bronze coins struck in response to the Lex Papiria. It’s likely that additional bronze coin production was simply not required, and so Silanus focused on silver coin production to defray the costs of the war.
Bronze coins of this era of the Republic often have pronounced casting sprues from the flan production phase of the minting process. This coin has a sprue at 11h obverse, 7h reverse. These are an expected part of the fabric of Roman Republican bronze coins of the Social War era.
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