Catalog
1 Tridrachm Beast series: boar
| Issuer | Populonia |
|---|---|
| Year | 501 BC - 450 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 |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Vecchi-I#14, HN Italy#112, EC 1#2, SambonArt#19, SNG Firenze 2#60 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Uniface; the reverse presents a plain, unworked incuse surface resulting from the single-punch striking technique employed in early Populonian coinage. The field is entirely blank and undecorated, bearing no design, legend, or incuse pattern, consistent with the earliest phase of Etruscan silver coinage production. |
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| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Populonia |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Populonia, the only Etruscan city known to have struck its own coinage rather than relying on imported or imitative issues, drew its minting capacity directly from the iron ore smelted at nearby Elba. The tridrachm weight standard here reflects early engagement with Greek trading networks along the Tyrrhenian coast, before Populonia later shifted to its own reduced weight conventions.
The boar held specific totemic significance in Etruscan religious culture, appearing in funerary contexts at Populonia itself.