Catalog
Silver 5 Asses Bearded male head series: facing right
| Issuer | Populonia |
|---|---|
| Year | 475 BC - 425 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 11.37 g |
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| Obverse description | Bare, bearded male head facing right, rendered in archaic Etruscan style with strongly modelled features including a prominent brow, well-defined beard rendered in parallel striations, and curling hair indicated by incised lines at the crown. The portrait fills the flan with bold relief characteristic of early Populonian silver coinage. The field is plain and uninscribed, the flan being irregular and slightly convex. |
|---|---|
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| Mint | Populonia |
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| Additional information |
Populonia, on the Etruscan coast of what is now Tuscany, was unusual among ancient minting authorities in producing silver coinage when most Etruscan cities relied on bronze. The city's access to iron ore smelted on the nearby island of Elba likely underpinned both its wealth and its capacity to strike in silver at a period when few Italian mints could manage it.
The as denomination here follows the Etruscan weight standard rather than the Roman, a distinction that matters for attribution. Vecchi's classification separates this bearded series from the earlier facing-head types on die-link evidence.