well, i finally got a repuplican...about darn time. looked for one for days, this really wanted live at my house. really like the serrate edge! rublican denarius 79bc c. naevius balbus o: venus, SC benind (something in front to...what is it?) r:victory drag racing in a triga, c nae ablb in ex rome mint crawfird 382/1a 18.5mm 3.59g
It is a Q. These had dies numbered. Some had a letter on obverse while others had a letter or Roman numeral over the horses on the reverse (but not both on one coin). Banti shows A through X and numbers over 230.
Nice pick up! Coincidentally, in falling off the wagon the other day, I too bought my first republican coin. Will post it when it arrives.
For what its worth, there is also a very similar coin of Q. Antonius Balbus a few years earlier with Jupiter and quadriga but the same lettering scheme. Mine has S. on the obverse. My Naevius is not well centered but seems to have an O above the horses.
Not to my knowledge. I am not sure the currnet thoughts are, but last I heard it was done intentionally to deter clipping, like reeded edges were on modern coins. If someone clipped silver, the edge would show it.
ahhh...neato, when I was shopping I saw these referred to as a "control number"..i didn't know what that was. DS, I wonder if yours is a D like this guy... http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=624789 "cold"...well, they do look like snowflakes don't they? Interesting MED, I ran into this while I was shopping also, from wildwinds.. thanks for comments everyone!
As I understand it many of the serrate issues were intended to comfort the fears of certain groups who believed that it protected them from plated coins more than actually protecting them. What do these coins have in common?
Sorry chrsmat71 => congrats on falling off of the wagon (ummm, I mean congrats on purchasing such a wonderful coin!! ... it is a sweet looker!!)
I'm now curious => so, were these Seleukid AE coins also produced with serrated-edges for the same reason?
lol! the "safeguard" hypothesis doesn't work (may have been harder?), so what about the "no clipping" hypothesis? i also propose a "they just look cool" hypothesis. as support, i offer all the above coins.
Bottle caps would make it harder to counterfeit but the metal was base anyway. They were produced by a completely different process. You will note the edge is not cut but has pegs cast into the flan when first made.
You guys are killing me with the RRs. And I like the serrated edge. I'd have to look, but I don't believe I have a serrated RR. Man, I've got to get off this darn wagon!
Is it possible that the serrate edges on Republic silver had something to do with weight adjustment? It's certainly more pleasing than the crude gouges you see sometimes.
hmmmm...that could be. wonder if they did it when low on silver? melt down the scraps and make some more coins? i found this also, don't know enough (or anything) about metallurgy to know if it jives... this is from here... http://andrewmccabe.ancients.info/Research.html