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Silver 20 Asses Gorgoneion series II: star with crescent
| Issuer | Populonia |
|---|---|
| Year | 301 BC - 206 BC |
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| Currency | As (circa 475-201 BC) |
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| Obverse description | Facing Gorgoneion (Medusa head) depicted in archaic style, with wide-open eyes, a protruding tongue, and flowing serpentine hair radiating symmetrically around the visage. The face fills the field, rendered with bold, expressive relief characteristic of Populonian coinage. The denomination mark 'XX' appears below the head in the lower field, indicating the value of 20 Asses. A beaded border frames the design along the coin's periphery. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | XX (Translation: 20) |
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| Additional information |
Populonia, the only Etruscan city known to have struck its own coinage directly from locally smelted iron-ore slag, produced this series at a mint operating within sight of the Tyrrhenian coast. The city's control of the iron deposits on Elba gave it unusual economic independence, and its coinages reflect a mint experimenting across a remarkably wide range of denominations and types with no obvious federal authority imposing standardization.
The extended date range assigned to this issue reflects genuine scholarly uncertainty rather than confirmed production over a full century — the series was likely compressed into a shorter window, possibly accelerated by the disruptions of the Pyrrhic War or early conflicts with Rome.