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Silver 20 Asses Metus series: without diademed
| Issuer | Populonia |
|---|---|
| Year | 301 BC - 206 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Asses |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Facing gorgoneion (Metus head) of pronounced archaic style, depicted frontally at center, featuring a broad grimacing visage with open mouth, protruding tongue, large staring eyes, and serpentine hair with scrolled lateral elements. The face is rendered with bold, deeply-cut relief characteristic of Etruscan die-cutting. The value mark XX appears in the upper field, denoting the denomination of 20 Asses. The coin is struck on an irregularly shaped flan typical of Populonian coinage of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain, uninscribed reverse with a smooth, slightly concave surface showing no intentional design, consistent with early Etruscan hammered coinage practice from Populonia. The flan exhibits natural surface irregularities and patination resulting from the hammered striking technique. No legend, symbol, or device is present; the reverse serves purely as a functional backing to the obverse die. |
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| Additional information |
Populonia, the only Etruscan city known to have struck coins directly from locally smelted ore, produced this issue from iron-rich deposits in the nearby hills and from metal shipped across from Elba. The "Metus" series — named for the gorgon-adjacent head type — represents a phase of monetization driven less by internal commerce than by the need to pay mercenary troops during a period of sustained Roman military pressure on Etruria. The variant without the diadem is documented in Vecchi but remains poorly understood in terms of die sequence.