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Æ Semis Imitation of the Roman Republic
| Issuer | Uncertain Iberian mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 90 BC - 1 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Coin alignment ↑↓ |
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| Obverse description | Coarsely rendered laureate male head facing right, executed in a provincial barbarous style imitating Roman Republican semis typology. The modeling is crude and schematic, with the laurel wreath indicated by rough incised lines. The value mark S (semis) appears in the field behind the head. The overall style reflects local Iberian die-cutting traditions rather than Roman workshop production. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Prow of a galley facing right, rendered in a coarse, schematic manner consistent with Iberian imitative workshop production. The prow is depicted with simplified horizontal hull lines below. The value mark S appears above the prow, and the inscription ROMA is placed in the lower exergual area, both imitating the standard Roman Republican semis reverse type. The design elements are crude but clearly derivative of official Roman Republican coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Imitative bronzes of this type were produced across the Iberian peninsula during Rome's gradual absorption of Hispania, a process punctuated by the Sertorian War of the 80s–70s BC — the most plausible window for many of these pieces. Local mints, some never identified, struck semis-weight coins closely modeled on Roman Republican types, likely to facilitate taxation, troop pay, or market exchange in regions where Roman coinage remained scarce but Roman administrative expectations were already in force. Attribution to CNH#5 places this among a loose cluster of imitative issues that scholars have struggled to assign with confidence for decades.