Lead used for die starters?

Hello everyone! As I previously mentioned, I'm getting started in ancient coins so I have a lot to learn. Not too long ago, there was an Aquilia Severa denarius at auction. This was an extremely high coin on my list (seriously, why isn't there a movie about her?) and I'd bought from that auction house before and had nothing but very positive experiences. However, the stated weight of 4g seemed way too high.

I contacted the auction house to ask whether they'd misstated the weight, and they responded that they hadn't and the coin was indeed genuine. The weight was due to a high lead content in the coin, which they stated was commonly done for the first few coins for a die.

For me, that explained why the coin didn't seem in the best condition, so I put a low bid in that predictably didn't win. I later won a much better condition copy from a different auction house for the same winning price.

However, I'm still wondering how common these "die starters" are. Are there collectors who focus on them? I searched and found no articles discussing this, but I'd appreciate any references/links.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Interesting; never heard of this. Could you share the photos of the coin? The weight is indeed high for a denarius. If the coin was misidentified antonianus, 4gram is not uncommon.

 

I have never heard about it either. I would do a sg test on it, that might shed more light. They never tried to make every weight perfect, they were given X pounds of silver and were expected to deliver X coins. Sometimes a heavy one could sneak through, as well as light ones.

 

I have reservations about the coin below having a high degree of lead. For one thing it's awfully heavy for a coin of hers & this period, and it does have a bit of a "thud" when you drop it onto a solid surface.

Plus note the strike of the coin is strong compared to usually worn dies many of hers can have.

I've never had it tested & I know it's real.

I have no great interest in her but I bought it for the weight among other reasons.


Salonina (254 - 268 A.D.)
Billon antoninianus
O:CORN SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust right, crescent behind.
R: CONCORDIA AVGG, emperor and empress standing confronted, clasping hands.
Syrian mint, 258 - 260 A.D
5.61g
20mm
Göbl MIR 1691p (Samosata), SRCV III 10630 (uncertain Syrian mint), RIC V-1 63 (Antioch), RSC IV 31

Very heavy!

 

Here's a photo of the coin in question (auction house's photo).


It's listed at 20mm, 4,07g. The splotch next to the eye is what put me off from bidding higher. The one I wound up buying was listed at 18mm, 2,81g.

 

There were no antoniniani issued for Aquilia Severa, I believe.

 

I think what the op is talking about is a trial strike. It's possible it could be made of lead or commonly an oversized flan of bronze. I would classify these as the same collectability as errors. If that is what it is, the auction should have disclosed that.

 

I have an Elagabalus denarius that weighs 3.97 g., the heaviest Imperial-era denarius I have that was issued after Augustus and Tiberius. (I have a lot of Republican denarii that weigh that much or more.) So it's unusual, but not impossible, for a denarius to weigh around 4.0 g. even in the twilight era of the denomination.

 

I'm no expert, but a trial-run with leaded flans for new dies seems an unlikely explanation to me.
There is what looks like a die-break on the neck of Aquilia on the OP coin's obverse.
So: a die-break on a new die???

 

Never heard of “die starters” or seen a coin listed that way in an auction

 

Note that the auction never listed this coin as a "die starter". I received that information from someone at the auction house when I inquired about the unusual weight.

 

Ok but it is quite weird no book I’ve read reports such thing

 

Never heard of that before.

 

I did just find this article. It does mention the use of lead for trial strikes, though for Greek coins and not Roman. It also mentions ancient counterfeiters using lead.

 

Roman's did use trial strikes, but they look nothing like the coin you pictured.

 

Fascinating. Now, this as a trial strike I would believe. I still would suspect the OP's coin could very well just be a heavier than average silver coin, but only a sg test will say, (not for sure, but an indication).

 

Right, a generally accepted theory is that weight uniformity was loosely controlled in the mint by weighing a fixed quantity of silver flans to reach an average aim weight across several similar sized flans.

So for example to get to a 1 lb batch of 96 flans at about 3.5g per flan, a significant deviation will be found in the weights of individual flans. An outlier like this is unusual but well within observed deviations.

 

Pretty interesting and something that I had never heard of before.