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Aes Formatum Lambskin; curved troughs; curved peaks
| Issuer | |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 201 BC |
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| Composition | Bronze |
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| Obverse description | Anepigraphic obverse of a cast bronze aes formatum of the so-called lambskin or ox-hide type, featuring a distinctive biconvex profile with a broad, smoothly arched upper edge and two concave lateral troughs flanking a raised central lobe, terminating in four downward-curving horn-like projections at the corners. The entire surface is devoid of any type, legend, or device. The field displays a heavy patina of mottled green and brown encrustation consistent with prolonged burial. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Before Rome standardized its coinage, pre-monetary bronze was exchanged by weight in irregular cast forms. The curved-trough and curved-peak profile of this type is consistent with aes formatum — shaped but unstruck bronze — used in central Italy as a medium of exchange before the aes signatum and eventually aes grave displaced it during the third century BC.
The lambskin surface texture, a result of casting against organic material, is a known characteristic of certain Etruscan and Italic foundry practices.