Catalog
10 Centesimae Incuse series: fish
| Issuer | Populonia |
|---|---|
| Year | 211 BC - 201 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Centesimae = 1/10 As (0.10) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A fish depicted in profile, rendered in incuse relief centrally placed on the reverse flan, serving as the primary type identifier for this denomination. The fish is shown in a naturalistic but stylized manner consistent with Populonian bronze coinage conventions. The incuse technique results in the design being recessed into the flan surface. No legend or additional design elements accompany the type. The flan is irregular and shows the characteristic rough surfaces associated with cast and hammered Etruscan bronzes. |
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| Additional information |
Populonia, the only Etruscan city known to have struck its own coinage directly from local iron-rich ore deposits, produced this series during a period when Roman military pressure on Etruria was already irreversible. The incuse technique — where the reverse image is a recessed mirror of the obverse — is an archaic Greek convention that most mints had abandoned centuries earlier, making Populonia's persistence with it an anomaly in third-century Italy.
The fish type is among the rarer denominational variants in the bronze incuse series, with relatively few die pairs documented across the major collections.