Five pounds of Rude

An interesting piece of history arrived today. I will post some pics with other pieces soon.
One Quarter of a Circular Shaped Bronze Ingot
The piece weighs 1443 grams, or about 5 roman pounds.





The seller had four cast bronze pieces. This was my favorite of the group. The broken ax looked interesting, and did not sell, but this chewed up my budget for the month.
The vendor's description -
AES PREMONETALE. Aes Formatum.
A Quarter of a large circular cake-shaped bronze ingot. Central Italy, 6th-4th century BC., RRR
Cf. Garrucci, TAV III, 4 and 5, from the Cere hoard (of about the same shape and weight).
1443 g
152 x 97 x 39 m
Untouched earthy green patina. EF.
This very rare and fascinating example has the weight of an Aes Signatum or Five Roman Pounds and probably represents a quincussis.

Garrucci, page 3; five pieces are shown on plate III.
I translated the text from Garrucci:
first I broke the Italian into sections to help google translate group the words -
· Di piu perche vi si vede chiaramente come il metallo si e aperta la via intorno intorno per un fondo che doveva percio essere mobile.
· Il primo pezzo due libbre e once due
· once due
· il secondo due libbre once otto
· il terzo libbre quattro once otto e mezzo
· mezzo
· otto
· il quarto libbre quattro once tre
· il quinto libbre quattro once otto e mezzo

The English, tho I am not sure of all the translations are right. -
· Most of all, as you can see clearly how the metal opened up the street around for a base that had to be mobile.
· The first piece two pounds and two ounces
· Once two
· The second two pounds eight ounces
· The third pound four times eight and a half
· half
· eight
· The fourth pound four times three
· The fifth pound four times eight and a half

 

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Great addition. I wonder how they broke up these units in antiquity? Even with smaller pieces it would be fairly difficult.

 

Can you make change for this?

Most interesting. Thanks for sharing!

 

Wow, that's a really big one! I have a
disk-shaped aes formatum (135 mm, ~1500 g), basically one-half of a circular shaped bronze ignot. Your one-quarter cast bronze is almost the same size as my one-half bronze. I am traveling but will post a photo when I get home.

Nice purchase!

Edited to post some photos:



4th century B.C.
Disk-shaped aes formatum (135 mm, ~1500 g)
As Cast, green patina with heavy earthen deposits
Mounded obverse, flat reverse. Haeberlin p. 4, pl. 2.7.

 

wow...heavy man..(and neat too!) i like it!

 

Not easy currency to lug around but pretty darn cool.

 

Very cool

 

Cool Roman ingot!!

 

I would be tempted to display it on a simple base with a wire holder. Too large for an Abafil and large enough to be art IMO. Something akin to the photo below.


http://www.artdisplay.com/h-armature.html#.WUkZb_nyv3g

 

Nice Gene! I'd like to see that in a Saflip, just so it has a little more protection...

At this point, Although I enjoy Aes Grave / Formatum coinage, I have not moved into the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrrier size coinage! That is a fantastic piece that you captured! Well done!

 

It's a big chunk for sure..cast metals usually break easier..if they added some gold , silver or other elements, it would be one piece now..

 

This one came in a zip lock baggie with an ID tag taped to the outside. I will store it in a tray, yet to be determined.

 

Great idea.

 

This is without a doubt the most Rude thread I have seen here!

 

But... but... what if it got dust on its surfaces? Or, worse yet, fingerprints?

Oh, sorry, thought I was back in the US Coins forum for a second.

 

Help the ancient noobs here... what is 'rude' in this context?

 

Romans were late to the coin minting game. Their first struck silver coins start about 280 BC. About the same time they issued cast bronze coins, Aes Grave. Before that, they used pieces of cast bronze, Aes Rude, in lieu of coins (as a raw material for bronze smiths, as a means of exchange, to accumulate wealth, for votive offerings to gods, etc.) The piece shown is one of the forms of cast bronze from a time before Rome issued coins.
Below is a smaller piece of Aes Rude (about 50 grams) and two Aes Grave cast coins.

 

I understand 'Rude' is pronounced as Rooday.

 

Fantastic addition Rrdenarius!!! It must be incredible to hold it in hand.
Congrats on such a nice piece!

Here my only compatible piece. A much smaller Aes Grave.

 

rrd, you have an awesome collection! love the new piece.

~Doug