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Author Topic: About the unofficial asses of Claudius minted in Hispania  (Read 555 times)

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Offline Jose Polanco

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About the unofficial asses of Claudius minted in Hispania
« on: August 25, 2019, 04:50:47 pm »
The asses of Emperor Claudius (41 – 54 AD) are among the most common coins of the First Century and most of them are imitations not struck by the official mint of Rome. The main causes of this phenomenon go beyond the usual profit-seeking of contemporary private illegal counterfeiters and root their origin in the monetary policy decisions of the previous Emperor Caligula (37 – 41 AD). Caligula decided to centralize the minting of bronze coins in Rome. Only Lugdunum kept minting silver coins; all other mints in the Western Provinces shut down their activities. This policy was upheld when Claudius became Emperor, resulting in a scarcity of low value coins in the immediately following months. Lack of liquidity soon occurred in the conquest of Britannia. Imitations of the official asses were struck in order to pay the legions. 

In the case of Hispania, which with the whole Iberian Peninsula had been under Roman control since the reign of Augustus, the motivations for minting imitations were mostly economic and commercial. The importance of the Province in Imperial trade, especially in olive oil, and the growth in economic development increased monetary demand and the supply of low value coins became critical. Several mints were reopened, among which Emerita, Tarraco, Caesaraugusta and Asturica are suggested by scholars. The volume of production was high enough to make these asses the most frequent amongst First Century coin discoveries in modern Spain and Portugal and almost all them are imitations. These coins circulated as official currency beyond Hispania. Findings in North Africa and even in Rome include these Hispanic unofficial coins. The fact that the few known cash transfers from Rome to Hispania during this period were quadrans suggests that the monetary authorities were aware of the activity of the Hispanic mints, and incidentally that the problem of the scarcity of asses was solved in this province.

Locally minted coins copied exclusively the asses of the 41 AD issue, with the legend TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR IMP on the obverse. In 50 AD the Roman mint reached the required capacity to supply the provinces and a new issue of asses, adding P(ater)P(atriae) at the end of the obverse legend, was minted exclusively in Rome. Hispania quit minting asses at that time but the coins already produced kept circulating until the end of the First Century.

Among the examples discovered in modern Spain those with the MINERVA reverse are the most frequently found. The frequency of this reverse is usually higher than the sum of the other two types, LIBERTAS and CONSTANTIAE. These proportions are similar throughout the Empire, especially in Italy. The issues from the various mints significally differ in weight, diameter and style, resulting in a large variety of unique examples. As a result it is extremely difficult to propose a stylistic classification for which there is a unique criterion. Several scales have been proposed ranking from 4 to 6 levels. These start with those with the most refined style and closer to the Roman original and end with those imitations that are the most bizarre and disproportionate. Even into the same level the Emperor’s bust may differ, appearing older or younger and with different factions.

Here’s an example of each one from my collection:

Minerva https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-157473
Libertas https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-157474
Constantiae https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-157475


References

Cebrián Sánchez, M. A. (1999) Imitaciones de Claudio I en el monetario del Museo
Arqueológico y Etnológico de Córdoba. Numisma, 49, 242. En http://www.siaen.org/documents/10901/11639/1999+-+242/aab434ea-a50d-4be2-a189-c971a303dad2

Hoz Montoya, J. (2005) Distribución de moneda y crecimiento económico en
Écija bajo Claudio y Nerón: a propósito de una colección numismática local.
Actas del VII Congreso de Historia. Écija, economía y sociedad.  https://www.academia.edu/996852/Distribuci%C3%B3n_de_moneda_y_crecimiento_econ%C3%B3mico_en_%C3%89cija_bajo_Claudio_y_Ner%C3%B3n_a_prop%C3%B3sito_de_una_colecci%C3%B3n_numism%C3%A1tica_local

Hurtado Mullor, T. (2014) Los Fondos numismáticos romanos del museo de historia y arqueología de Silla (Valencia) (MARS): Apuntes sobre los hallazgos monetarios romanos en l’Horta Sud. XV Congreso Nacional de Numismática.
http://www.man.es/man/dms/man/actividades/congresos-reuniones/2014/congreso-numismatica/actas/2016_XVCNN_Hurtado.pdf

Kenyon, R. F. E. (1992). The Copying of Bronze Coins of Claudius I in Roman Britain. PhD thesis. Institute of Archaeology, University College London. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1546590/1/Kenyon_675410_vol1.pdf

Lanna, F. (2015) "Claudius", in: Maria Cristina Molinari (Ed), "The Julio-Claudian and Flavian Coins from Rome's Municipal Urban Excavations: Observations on Coin Circulation in the Cities of Latium Vetus and Campania in the 1st Century AD", Trieste, EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2015, pp.47-58. En https://www.openstarts.units.it/handle/10077/11168

Offline Warren

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Re: About the unofficial asses of Claudius minted in Hispania
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2019, 08:39:32 pm »
Your Spanish imitations look much like the imitations found in Britain. Here is my page on British imitations:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/imit/imitclaudius.html

   Warren


Offline Jose Polanco

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Re: About the unofficial asses of Claudius minted in Hispania
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2019, 06:24:00 am »
Quote from: Warren on September 01, 2019, 08:39:32 pm
Your Spanish imitations look much like the imitations found in Britain. Here is my page on British imitations:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/imit/imitclaudius.html

   Warren



Hi Warren,

Very nice page!! Well, they are all imitations of the same originals and we know they have circulated around the Western provinces as official. So, they should look similar.

José.

 

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