Three interesting cast bronze coins arrived late last year. The seller listed them as different degrees of rare. I normally look at the number of examples listed by Haeberlin and the number of coins on acsearch. I do not remember seeing two of these coins at auction. Horse Head / Horse Head, Triens, was listed as scarce, 111 examples in Haeberlin and 48 examples on acsearch. Apollo / Rooster, Nummus or As, was listed as Very Rare, 36 examples in Haeberlin and 6 examples on acsearch. Beetle / 4 petal flower, Semuncia, was listed as Very Rare, 28 examples in Haeberlin and 8 examples on acsearch. I mentioned the sumuncia recently and will cover the Triens separately. Rare Aes Grave in the recent BFA auction - high wow factor | Coin Talk My pics. Seller's pics. Cast AE Nummus (As), Apulia, Luceria, 225-217 BC Obv - Head Apollo left, hair tied with ribbon; below chin – mark of value: I Rv. Rooster standing left. Most books list 3 variations on this coin. Two types have letters around the rooster: L.SEXTI.SEP.BABI or M.LAVINIO. A third type has no letters. Untouched green patina, about extremely fine. 214.5 grams 64.7 X 67.5 X 14.6 mm 2 H - this is normal for this series, but unusual because most cast coins are 12 H I found this coin in a few references: TV 195 Note: 194a & 194b with letters ICC 336 Note: 334 & 335 with letters Sydenham AG 134 Note: 135 & 136 with letters Cat 149 Haeberlin page 154, a - with double magistrate name, 4 coins, 284 g; T 95 #12; T102 #2 page 154, b - with a simple magistrate name; 1 coin; wt. 272 g; T 102 #1 page 155, c – no name; 36 coins; avg wt. 226 g; T 64 #6 – 10; T 65 #1 Garrucci pg 34, tab LXIII #2 without letters pg 39, tab supl LXX #3 & #4 with letters HNItaly 669 lists 3 types in same # BMC, G, Italy pg 137, Apula, Luceria #2 – 5 Both Garrucci and Haeberlin (T 102) mention false coins when covering coins with letters. I am not sure exactly what they say because I do not speak German or Italian, but might mean barbarous style. Sydenham and Vecchi do not make similar comments.
Wonderful wins214.5 grams!!! Are you trying to break your postal carriers back!? That rooster is as thick as half my greek coins are wide
G'day there! I'm new to ancients and in reading have a question. What is the 2H/12H referring to please? Thanks
These terms indicate the die alignment orientation, turning the coin horizontally. I believe the "H" stands for hour, so 12H will point the top of both dies to 12 o'clock when turned. Here is an explanation: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/n...e alignment, hold,your thumb and index finger.
@Iepto has a good link. My experience does not agree that most Roman coins have consistent die rotations. US coins are "coin turn" or the reverse and obverse are 180 degrees apart. That is one side points up and one down. Medal sides normally both point up, thus "medal turn". Roman Republican coins were struck with one die fixed in an anvil and one die hand held. The orientation could vary unless the mint workers took care with alignment. Most of my RR coins have random die orientations. Roman Imperial coins had random die orientations until scissor shaped die holders produced consistent die rotations. (At least I think this is true for Roman Imperial coins. Someone more versed can correct me). Cast RR coins had consistent die orientations. I think well over 90% of the cast coins I have seen (in hand or in pictures) are 12H. There are a few percent with 6H and even less with 3H. This is the first time I have seen most of the coins with 2H. The bottom two coins above have 12H die rotation. You can confirm that by the location of chips where coins were broken from their casting sprews. The top coin (a pig / pig quadrans) is the first coin I bought with a 6H die rotation. Before I bought the coin I checked with others who know more than me and they confirmed that some aes grave are not 12H. Note the 3 coins belong to the horse head series. This is one of the first aes grave I bought with a 3H die rotation. Some cast coins are difficult to tell die rotation. Some Roman anchors point up. This one points down. The barley grain on both sides of the coin in the top pictures has a pointed end up. Some barley grains are worn enough that there is no pointed end.
