Catalog
1 Sextans Cantharus series
| Issuer | Uncertain city of Central Italy |
|---|---|
| Year | 301 BC - 201 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A cantharus (two-handled drinking cup) depicted in frontal view, with a broad body, pronounced foot, and two large loop handles extending to either side. A single pellet appears to the left and another to the right of the vessel, serving as value marks denoting the sextans denomination (two unciae). The type is rendered in the bold, schematic style characteristic of cast aes grave coinage of Central Italy. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Cantharus series belongs to the aes grave tradition of central Italy — cast, not struck, at a time when Rome's own monetary system was still finding its footing. The issuing authority remains genuinely contested; attributions have shifted between Hatria, Luceria, and other Samnite-adjacent communities over the course of the twentieth century without consensus. Haeberlin's foundational 1910 typology remains the baseline reference, though subsequent scholarship has repeatedly revised the geographic assignments he proposed.
Cast aes grave of this weight class circulated in a world before the denarius existed.