Catalog
Unknown Æ
| Issuer | Uncertain city of Central Italy |
|---|---|
| Year | 301 BC - 201 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Cast |
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| Obverse description | A crescent rendered in raised relief, positioned centrally within the flat field of this heavy cast bronze piece. The crescent type is a relatively rare motif among Central Italian aes grave issues of the third century BC, and is here depicted with plain, unadorned horns. No legend or additional devices are present in the field. The flan is irregular in outline, consistent with the casting techniques employed in early Roman-period central Italian bronze coinage. |
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| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The attribution to a "uncertain city of Central Italy" reflects a long-standing problem in the study of pre-Social War bronze coinage: dozens of small Samnite, Oscan, and Latin communities struck bronze on overlapping weight standards during the third century BC, and without accompanying epigraphic evidence on the flan, firm attribution remains impossible. Haeberlin's treatment of this type in his foundational Aes Grave work placed it within a loose regional grouping rather than assigning it to a specific mint — a cautious position most subsequent scholarship has retained.