Central Italian bronze fractions of this period present persistent attribution headaches — the issuing authority behind HN Italy 399 remains unresolved, with candidates proposed across Umbria and northern Campania without consensus. What is clear is that heavy cast aes grave of this weight class was already anachronistic by the mid-third century, when Rome's Second Punic War pressures were driving down the standard dramatically. A piece this heavy implies an early date within the bracket, before the progressive weight reductions that followed Cannae and the fiscal strain of 216 BC.
Central Italian bronze fractions of this period present persistent attribution headaches — the issuing authority behind HN Italy 399 remains unresolved, with candidates proposed across Umbria and northern Campania without consensus. What is clear is that heavy cast aes grave of this weight class was already anachronistic by the mid-third century, when Rome's Second Punic War pressures were driving down the standard dramatically. A piece this heavy implies an early date within the bracket, before the progressive weight reductions that followed Cannae and the fiscal strain of 216 BC.