Silver Denarius-Serratus, circa 209-208 BC, Anonymous Sicilian Mint, 19 mm, 4.19 gm. Earlier this year I sold most of my Republican denarii, however, this one I decided to hang onto. The obverse depicts Roma facing to the right & wearing a winged helmet, a pearl necklace, & an earring resembling a clump of grapes. In the left field is an X, a mark of value, meaning the coin is equal to 10 bronze asses. The reverse depicts the Dioscuri (sons of Zeus & Leda), Castor & Pollux, on horseback each caring two lances. Under the horses is a wheel with six spokes, & below the ground line the word ROMA. After the Romans won the 1st Punic War in 241 BC, the Carthaginians evacuated Sicily & agreed to pay the Romans a large war indemnity. This coin was struck in Sicily most likely to pay Roman troops who took part in the 2nd Punic War which lasted from 218-201 BC. Counterfeiting of coinage became a serious problem to the Roman economy shortly after the minting of coinage began. Bronze planchets plated with silver circulated among genuine pure silver coinage. To fight this epidemic pure silver planchets were often hit with a chisel on their edges to show they weren't plated fakes. These coins were called serrated denarii. The dies that struck this coin were probably made by a Greek celator.
Lovely coin @Al Kowsky. Very nice detail. I can see why you kept this one. I have only two serrated denarii in my collection, but neither are near as nice as your example: L. SCIPIO ASIAGENUS AR Serrate Denarius OBVERSE:Laureate head of Jupiter left; before, control-mark(R). Border of dots REVERSE: Jupiter in quadriga right, holding sceptre and reins in left hand and hurling thunderbold with right hand; in exergue, L SCIP ASIAG. Border of dots. Struck at Rome, 106 BC 3.5g, 20mm Crawford 311/1b; BMCRR Rome 1374; Babelon Cornelia 24; RSC Cornelia 24c L ROSCIUS FABATUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS ROSCIA AR Serrate Denarius OBVERSE: Head of Juno Sospita in goat skin, L ROSCI below, Jug to left REVERSE: Girl standing right feeding serpent before, Unknown control mark (?) to left, FABATI in ex. Rome 59 BC 3.7g, 18mm Cr 412/1; Syd 915
I like the denarius of Juno wearing a goat skin. The mythology of Juno is extremely complex & her images are greatly varied. Here she is depicted as a power-warrior image with the goat skin & later evolved into a soft, peaceful feminine image, the goddess of marriage.
Beautiful serrated denarii, @Al Kowsky and @Bing ! Interesting how the Roman Republican coins have a gear-like appearance and the Seleucids resemble bottle caps.
Deacon Ray, these serrated bronze coins always puzzled me. Were the serrations cast or actually chiseled by hand? If chiseled by hand, what was the point?
I cannot find any definitive reason for the serrations, @Al Kowsky . I know that it has been discussed on this forum before. It may have been an attempt to differentiate the coins from other denominations of similar size so they could be identified by touch as well as by sight?
Beautiful OP coin @Al Kowsky!! I'm gonna need to wear one of my babies bibs to avoid drooling all over my phone C. MamiliusLimetanus C .MariusC.f.Capito 81 BC. RomeSerratus AR 17mm., 3,63g. Draped bust of Ceres right, wearing wreath of grain ears, anchor below chin / Ploughman with yoke of oxen left, inverted T above. nearly very fine Crawford 378/1c; Sydenham 744b; Maria 9. L SCIPIO ASIAGENUS Serrate Denarius (106 BC). Rome. Obv: Laureate head of Jupiter left; N to lower left. Rev: L SCIP ASIAG. Jupiter driving quadriga right, preparing to hurl thunderbolt and holding reins and sceptre. Crawford 311/1b. 3.77 g. 19 mm.
I've wondered this myself. Did they chisel them and sit and make each nick by hand? My understanding is that the point of the serrating was to detract would be forgers. Which, btw, it didn't stop the forgers as shown with this sweet lil Marius fouree of mine: C. Marius C.f.Capito 81 BCE. AR plated Serrate Denarius (17mm, 3.94 g, 6h). Rome mint. Wreathed and draped bust of Ceres right; LXXVIII at end of legend, [cornucopia] below chin / Husbandman with yoke of oxen ploughing left; LXXVIII above. Crawford 378/1c
Ryro, it is rather ironic to find these serreted denarii as fouree fakes isn't it. I've seen a few of them too. I guess a good counterfeiter will always find a way. On the subject of plated contemporary fakes, I think this one is the "show stopper", a Brutus, Ides of March denarius! See below. The coin has a wonderful portrait.
First of all @Al Kowsky, lovely example of the wheel symbol denarius, the first Roman Republican serratus issue. The purpose of the serrations and the method of application remains a mystery. Michael Harlan in his book "Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins 81 BCE-64 BCE" suggested that the serrations were done to prevent the mint workers from swallowing the coins for later retrieval. This makes much more sense to me than any other explanation including the discouragement of counterfeiting. As for the technique to apply the serrations, I believe it is implausible that these were hand applied with a chisel. Millions of serrated coins were produced in some large issues. The cost in time to produce these serrations with a chisel would be many multiples of the time to produce the same number of coins without the serrations - Even considering plentiful slave labor, it doesn't make sense to me that the mint would use that labor resource for this purpose unless there was a way to create the serrations rapidly. Perhaps there was some sort of a primitive machine to apply these serrations to the blank flans prior to striking. With any machine application, comes some level of repeatability. If the serrations were created with a machine, there would exist some coins with identical serrations. I have not found any, and I know of no studies that have pursued this.
Show stopper of all show stoppers! "Ides" don't know about you all, but I've never seen a fouree Brutus IOM!?! Probably less of those then the real deal. Big time SCORE
Nice serrated coins everyone and a "killer" Brutus! Here's mine, not only serrated but also with a weight reduction scoop. 82-83 BC* Q ANTONIUS BALBUS Laureate head of Jupiter right; S•C behind Victory in quadriga right; I below horses, Q ANTO BALB/PR in two lines in exergue. Rome, 83 BC 3.99g Crawford 364/1d; Sydenham 742b; Antonia 1. Sear 279 Lustrous Choice VF. Slight Flan flaw (weight reduction) on obverse in field. ex-ANE
Fugio 1, thats an interesting theory suggested by Harlan; it's the 1st time I've heard that one & seems hard to believe. As far as making the serrated edge the Romans were certainly clever enough to create a simple machine to do this I suppose. They had the engineering genius to build the Colosseum, so creating an apparatus to serrate coins should have been simple.
I don't know where this Brutus fouree denarius resides now but when it did auction off it brought a handsome price. And I'm sure it's rarer than the real thing.
Jay GT4, I did browse thru your gallery collection, very impressive! The coin you have illustrated in this thread is interesting too. Since the weight is so close to the average for denarii at that time, was the scooped-out material a form of weight adjustment? Food for thought...
Agree. Otherwise each coin would take perhaps 20 times as much effort and time to produce as without the serrations.
Thanks Al! Yes they are believed to have been scooped out as weight adjustments "al marco". You can find several Republican coins with similar marks.
