How often were marks of value added to Roman Imperial Æ coins? I am aware of the system used in RR times: X, V, III, II, I, S and all of the dots to represent twelfths of an as were used on cast and struck bronze of the Roman Republic. I do not remember seeing similar marks in AD times. Thanks to Doug and others, I am aware of XXI on LRB meaning 1:20 silver to bronze, but that is not quite a mark of value. I found an interesting comment in Sydenham's book on dating Roman Imperial coins. He mentions that Nero used the following: Sestertius = 4 asses, no mark Dupondius = 2 asses, mark = II As, mark = I Semis = 1/2 as, mark = S Quadrans = 1/4 as, no mark When I look in acsearch.info, I did find some examples for Nero. Interesting though is that most of his coins in the searches did not have the marks. The marks for the Dupondius and As, II & I, were all below the bottom line (in ex) while the S was in the field of the coins?? Post your Æ coins with marks of value. photo thanks to Nomos photo thanks to Roma photo thanks to Kunker These are more my speed, an I & S from 220 BC
ONE DOT - UNCIA: Luceria AES Grave Anonymous 217-215 BCE Uncia 7.35g Frog-Corn Ear pellet retrograd L T-V 285 TWO DOTS - SEXTANS: RR AE Aes Grave Sextans 270 BCE 37mm 55.28g Dioscuri R and L THREE DOTS - QUADRANS: RR Aes Grave AE Quadrans Dog 3 pellets Six spoked wheel 59.8g Craw 26-6a Th-Vecchi 34 FOUR DOTS - TRIENS: RR Aes Grave Anon 280-276 BCE Triens Tbolt-Dolphin Rome Crawford 14-3 T Vecchi 3 S = SEMIS: RR Anon AE Semis 211-207 BC Saturn S Prow ROMA S 766 Cr 56/3 I-MARK = AS: RR AE As P.CORNELIUS P.F. BLASIO BC 169-158 35mm 42.5g S 703 Syd 370 Craw 189/1
The practice pretty much died after Nero. There was a period where Licinius marked his AE3 issues with their value in denarii of account (12 1/2). I'm sure there are a few others depending on how you look at it. CMH issues?
Some tetras: SICILY, Kamarina 420-405 BCE AE tetras, 3.11 gm Obv: Head of Athena right, wearing winged Phrygian helmet; dotted border Rev: KAMA (legend from top to bottom), with owl standing left, lizard in talons; three dots in exergue Ref: Westermark / Jenkins 202, SNG ANS -., Calciati III No. 39 SICILY, Kamarina 420-405 BCE AE tetras, 3.34 gm Obv: Large head of Athena left, wearing crested helmet with wings Rev: Owl standing left, with lizard in talon; KAMA (retrograde) upward in right field; three dots in exergue Ref: Westermark / Jenkins 198 (see FIG. Pl. 35 / 198.24), SNG ANS 1230 Calciati III no. 28/4 (dotted-border type) Neon tetras image from aquariumgurus ... Dots on these Sicilian bronzes indicate how many twelfths of a litra the coin is worth. six hexas per litra; two dots (2/12) four tetras per litra; three dots (3/12) three trias per litra; four dots (4/12)
Many Greek coins and even some Roman Provincials have denomination marks. The OP asked for Imperials so the number of answers is cut way down.
In contrast to Imperial issues, Roman provincials often have marks of value. Retrograde gamma Γ on the reverse indicating 3 assaria on this triassarion of Julia Domna from Tomis in Moesia Inferior: Epsilon E on the reverse indicating 5 assaria on this pentassarion of Elagabalus and Julia Maesa of Markianopolis in Moesia Inferior: Iota I on the obverse indicating 10 assaria on this decassarion of Cornelia Salonina from Side in Pamphylia:
Further question on subject: when and what coinage were the first with specified denominations? I ran across a comment in my readings that the Etrurians were the first to have denominations on coinage. Is that a true statement?
Constantine did the same. Here's one marked (according to Victor Clark) as 12 denarii, or 1/2 nummi: Rome mint, A.D. 312-313 RIC 356 Obv: FL VAL CONSTANTINVS AVG Rev: PACI P-ERPET - Pax, standing facing, head left, holding branch and standard RQ in exergue; XII in left field 19 x 16 mm, 2.0 g. And one from the same time and mint marked as 16 denarii, or 2/3 nummi: Rome mint, A.D. 312-313 RIC 360 Obv: FL VAL CONSTANTINVS AVG Rev: VIRT EXE-RCIT GALL - Virtus, standing, looking right, holding parazonium and leaning on reversed spear RT in exergue; X in left field, VI in right 20 x 18 mm, 2.6 g.
here is a page from "The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage" with marks of value starting with Aurelian. http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view...46.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195305746-appendix-1 below are two- A CMH from Galeria and CI HS from Constantine.
Oh. Okay, how about a mark of alloy composition? (and I was just about to link the Oxford guide posted by Victor ) Maximianus CE 286-305 AE follis, 9.9 gm, 27 mm Obv: IMP C M A MAXIMIANVS PF AVG, laureate head right Rev: GENIO POPVLI ROMANI, Genius standing left holding cornucopia and pouring from a patera; XXI in left field, E in right field, ALE in exergue Mint: Alexandria Ref: RIC VI 30b From that Oxford guide cited in the previous post:
