...and I'm ecstatic! Up until recently, one area that was completely unrepresented in my collection was early Italian cast bronze, commonly referred to as "aes rude", "aes grave" and "aes signatum". This gap was not due to any lack of interest on my part, on the contrary, a significant stumbling block has been the Italian MOU which restricts the import of examples of these early Italian and Roman types to those with either an Italian export certificate or pre-2011 provenance. Though this law does not restrict domestic sales, I strive the meet its requirements for these types just as a bit of additional insurance for when my collection inevitably goes across the auction block. When I saw this coin in the most recent Triskeles auction with provenance to a CNG sale in 2005 and what I felt was a fairly reasonable opening and estimate, I knew that I wanted it, so I was thrilled when the hammer dropped and my bid came out on top. The cast uncia I'm sharing today comes from the earliest of cast coins made in Rome circa 280-265 B.C. and features an astragalos. If you're unfamiliar with the term astragalos or its plural astragaloi, this refers to the knucklebone or ankle-bone of a sheep, commonly used as a gaming piece in a game similar to modern-day jacks and also in divination. While the larger denominations of the as and semis featured gods such as Apollo and Minerva, the smaller denominations like the sextans, uncia and semuncia featured devices based on the earlier cast bronze seashells, astragaloi and acorns, respectively, which are commonly referred to today as "aes signatum". The Romans also put pellets and other symbols of value on these coins to aid their use in trade. While they aren't much to look at, these coins are in my opinion an essential part of any Roman Republic coin collection as they tell the story of the institution of Roman coinage. For a better discussion of early Roman monetary history I refer those interested to Andrew McCabe's page on early money in Rome which provides both good textual information as well as excellent illustrated examples. Roman Republic Æ cast uncia(27 mm, 25.52 g), anonymous, 280-265 B.C., Rome mint. Astragalos(sheep knucklebone) seen from above; • / •. Crawford 14/6; Vecchi ICC 31; HN Italy 273; Thurlow-Vecchi 6a; Haeberlin plate 40, 19 Ex Triskeles 20/VAuctions 325, 6/30/2017, lot 513, ex CNG E-Auction 115, May 25 2005, lot 328 As always, feel free to post anything relevant
FanTASTIC Jordan! I wondered when you were going to take the Aes plunge! Congrats! Great stuff... really fun to have.
Thanks! I have a feeling there will be more before the end of the year. I've been watching for a nice aes rude for a while. I'm really hoping I can find a piece that's been chopped off an ingot or something.
You don't know how lucky you really are. I intended to bid on this lot, but the closing happened to fall in the midst of a family vacation overseas. Distracted by sightseeing and a time change, I neglected to check the lot until after closing. My loss is your gain. Congratulations! I think it's a very attractive example with the key provenance.
Excellent thread!! I tried to win an example or two over the past two years but I found the challenging bids too formidable. I definitely LOVE the historical/numismatic context of all the early cast coins and I have to grab a few in the future!!
My Astragalos: AES GRAVE RR Aes Grave Uncia 269-240 BCE Astragalus knuckle-bones AES RUDE: Italia Aes Rude - bronze ca 5th-4th Century BCE 29.7mm 32.4g I read an article that RUDE were made by pouring molten bronze into a vat of water. If you have ever worked in foundries, this would had been really cool to see with the hot bronze being rapidly cooled in water and breaking into small pieces (coins / change). AES FORMATUM: Oscan-Latin Aes Formatum shell with Ribs 4th BCE
I always hate when that sort of thing happens but I'm glad I didn't have to bid against you. The underbidder drove it right up to what I thought was a pretty safe max bid and the last few seconds were a real nail biter.
Congrats, @red_spork! Now that you have taken the plunge and won your first Italian cast coin, I bet it won't be your last.
LOL, yup... now there is more pressure in the very small AES coinage arena! Welcome to the Pre-Denarii AES club @red_spork !
You ancient nuts are really to be admired! An old, corroded hunk of bronze or whatever makes you ecstatic, and you even know what it is. Wow. I get nervous if I have a coin where I can not read the date and have a good idea of what country it came from.
That is exactly WHY I left collecting modern. The rich History of the Ancients is much more rewarding.
To be fair, I do have a pretty good idea of the time period it came from and the city it was minted in and area it would have circulated and was likely found in as these are well studied and documented
