Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Currency bar Crescents with four-pointed star
| Issuer | Tarquinii |
|---|---|
| Year | 280 BC - 260 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Currency bar (circa 280-260 BC) |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Central device consisting of two crescents arranged back-to-back in a symmetrical, opposed configuration, with a four-pointed star placed centrally in the intervening field between their concave faces. The design is rendered in low relief characteristic of early Central Italian cast bronze currency bars (aes signatum), with the motifs occupying the broad flat face of the irregular rectangular flan. The surface exhibits the typical rough, pitted texture resulting from the casting process, with no inscription or border present. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (280 BC - 260 BC) |
| Additional information |
Tarquinii's bronze currency bars belong to a transitional moment in central Italian monetary history, when cast bronze by weight was still the dominant medium of exchange across Etruria and Latium. The city itself was in sharp political decline by this period — a former Etruscan powerhouse that had concluded a 40-year truce with Rome in 351 BC, then lost it, and by the time these bars were cast had effectively accepted Roman hegemony following the final Etruscan-Roman settlement of 280 BC.
These aes signatum-class objects were not coins in any strict sense but functioned as standardized bronze ingots within a bullion economy. Haeberlin's foundational study remains the primary reference for attributing bar types to specific issuing centers.