Catalog
1 As
| Issuer | Uncertain city of Central Italy |
|---|---|
| Year | 301 BC - 201 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 484.18 g |
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| Obverse description | A triskeles motif occupies the central field, rendered in low relief characteristic of heavy cast aes grave coinage of Central Italy. The three interlocking legs, radiating from a central hub, are depicted in the archaic Italic style typical of the third century BC. The flan is broad and irregular, consistent with the sand-casting technique employed for this series. No legend or inscription is present, and the field is otherwise plain. |
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| Reverse description | A trident is depicted in low relief at the center of the field, its three tines projecting upward and its shaft extending toward the lower portion of the flan. The device is rendered in the bold, schematic manner characteristic of Central Italian aes grave production of the third century BC. The flan is irregular and thick, consistent with the cast bronze fabric of this denomination. No legend or additional devices are present in the field. |
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| Additional information |
Aes grave production in central Italy during the third century BC was not a unified monetary program but a fragmented response to Roman expansion — individual cities striking heavy cast bronze on their own authority before absorption into the Roman orbit made local issues redundant. At 484 grams, this piece sits at the upper end of surviving as grave weights, suggesting it predates the chronic weight reductions that accelerated after the First Punic War began draining Roman allied resources after 264 BC.
The attribution to an uncertain central Italian city reflects ongoing scholarly disagreement rather than absence of evidence — Haeberlin's foundational 1910 corpus organized these pieces metrologically, but die and fabric analysis has never conclusively resolved the issuing authority for this group.