Quadrans Aburii: Marcus Aburius Marci Filius Geminus, GEM / M•ABVRIMF ROMA

Marcus Aburius Geminus served as moneyer during the late Roman Republic, likely in the 130s BC — a period when the tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus had just convulsed Roman politics and land reform was tearing at the senatorial class. The quadrans was the smallest fractional denomination in regular bronze production, and by this point in the second century its practical purchasing power had been eroded enough that issues like this one were already becoming scarce in active commerce. Crawford's placement in RRC 250 dates the series to around 132 BC, associating Aburius with a small but distinct group of moneyers whose families left almost no other trace in the historical record.