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Crawford 14/5, ROMAN REPUBLIC - AE Aes Grave Sextans
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Rome, The Republic.
Anonymous, circa 280 BCE.
AE Aes Grave Sextans (50.76g; 36mm).
Obverse: Shell seen from outside; two pellets (mark-of-value=2 unciae) below.
Reverse: Caduceus; two pellets (mark-of-value) in field.
References: Crawford 14/5; Vecchi ICC 30.
Provenance: Ex SteveX6 Collection; Collection of a Director [CNG eSale 392 (1 Mar 2017), Lot 434]; Auctiones 5 (2-3 Dec 1975), Lot 285.
Aes Grave were a significant departure from the previous Roman bronze money in that they were denominated with marks of value, and thus did not require weighing. At least three separate series of Roman Aes Grave use shells as types on sextantes (see Crawford 21/5 in this gallery). This is likely a traditional nod to the shell shaped Aes Formatum that were used for monetary exchange prior to the adoption of Aes Grave by Rome. The old Aes Formatum astragaloi (knuckle bones) are similarly re-used on Aes Grave Unciae which depict both sides of a knuckle bone (See Crawford 14/6, 21/6 and 25/9).
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