Catalog
1 Sextans Dots left
| Issuer | Uncertain city of Central Italy |
|---|---|
| Year | 301 BC - 201 BC |
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| 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 |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | ICC#299, HN Italy#379, Haeberlin#p.165, Thurlow-Ve#215, Syd#110 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A trident is depicted centrally, with a straight shaft, three upward-pointing tines of equal length, and lateral curved barbs at the base of the outer tines, consistent with Italic aes grave iconography. A single pellet value mark is placed to the left of the shaft and a second to the right, together denoting the sextans fraction. The design is cast in low relief on a broad, roughly circular flan typical of Central Italian heavy bronze coinage of the third to second century BC. |
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| Mintage | ND (301 BC - 201 BC) |
| Additional information |
The heavy aes grave tradition of central Italy was already in decline by the third century BC, with Rome's expanding monetary infrastructure gradually absorbing or displacing local bronze casting operations. This piece belongs to a cluster of issues that scholars have struggled to pin to a specific mint for over a century — the "uncertain city" attribution is not evasion but genuine disagreement, with Luceria, Venusia, and various Samnite centers all proposed at different points in the literature.
The dot denomination system on these cast bronzes was the period's primary means of distinguishing fractional values before legends became standard practice.