My latest acquisition was purchased for both the price and the eye-appeal. Oh, and it's somewhat rare. Domitian Æ Dupondius, 12.48g Rome mint, 81 AD Obv: IMP CAES DIVI VESP F DOMITIAN AVG P M; Head of Domitian, laureate, bearded, r. Rev: TR P COS VII DES VIII P P; S C in field; Minerva stg. l., with thunderbolt and spear; shield at her l. side RIC 82 (C). BMC -. BNC -. Acquired from Incitatus Coins, August 2021. This middle bronze struck for Domitian's first issue in 81 is laureate, but appears to be made of brass. RIC notes: 'Examples clearly in brass, as opposed to copper, can be identified as dupondii, though the laureate head might lead one to identify them as asses.' Perhaps a carry-over formula from Domitian's middle bronzes as Caesar under Vespasian and Titus when his dupondii were laureate. Missing from both the BM and Paris collections, indicating it may be rarer than the 'common' RIC frequency rating implies. This Minerva type would later become standard on the denarii. Do you have a doubtful denomination? If so, I'd like to see it!
I never saw reason to doubt this 10.7 brass Vespasian FIDES PVBLICA from Lugdunum was intended to be a dupondius because of the metal but if it were patinated, the obvious assumption would have been as. More problematic is this 11.2g AE of Trajan Decius which is too light to be a sestertius but radiate busts on dupondii were standard by that time and it is too large to be an as. It seems to have employed large, sestertius dies but the flan seems closer to dupondius. By this time, the color of the metal that once separated the denominations seems to have become just 'bronze' but the patina makes that hard to demonstrate. However this 7.5g radiate is obviously a dupondius and would only expect a 15g sestertius not far from this 14.3g sestertius of the same type. Then we have this 18.1g coin suggesting there was a standards change during Decius' reign or simply that the mint put little effort into standardizing the weights of its AE coins. All this shows that we have to consider the time and place of a coin before questioning what is right or expected.
I am unsure if this Hadrian is a semis or a quadrans. Depending on the auction, I have seen it with both denominations.
This coin is usually described as being either a dupondius or as. When the coin sports a patina that can get tricky. I managed however to determine that metallic composition of this coin was brass. Hadrian Ae Dupondius Rome 135 AD Obv Head right laureate. Rv Aequitas standing left. RIC 795d RIC II/3 2373 11.75 grms 25 mm Photo by W. Hansen
Interesting one, @David Atherton! I always like to obtain something that the British Museum lacks. RIC II (p. 290) comments on the "brass as" denomination: "The revival of the orichalcum as, which had been introduced by Nero and discontinued by his successors, is not easy to explain. Possibly these coins were designed for circulation in the East. Their issue is confined to the latter part of Trajan's reign." Trajan. A.D. 98-117. Roman orichalcum as, 8.49 g, 23.5 mm, 6 h. Struck in Rome for circulation in Syria (?); Struck in Antioch (?), AD 115/16. Obv: IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GERM, radiate and draped bust right; c/m: bucranium within incuse punch. Rev: DAC PARTHICO P M TR POT XX COS VI P P around laurel wreath enclosing large SC. Refs: RIC 647; BMCRE 1094; Cohen 123; RCV 3243; Woytek 937v; McAlee 509; Strack 479; BN 953-5. For c/m: Pangerl 63; Howgego 294.
Same situation with this coin. You might be interested in this thread from earlier this year. Hadrian, AD 117-138. Roman orichalcum semis, 4.12 g, 18.3 mm, 6 h. Rome, AD 124-25, possibly for use in Syria. Obv: HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS: Bust of Hadrian, laureate, draped and cuirassed, right. Rev: COS III S C, lyre. Refs: RIC 688; RIC 2.3, 758; BMC 1359-61; Cohen 443; Strack 625; RCV 3701; McAlee 547a.
Interesting - I posted in that thread also but it appears my memory starts playing tricks. I have both examples and both have the same "issue" in attributing the denomination.
Hadrian struck dupondii with laureate busts, c. 128-138. Below is one I have with no patina and you can see it is brassy. The one posted by @Terence Cheesman above is of the same "series," I think. This is discussed in the "Chronology" section, Richard Abdy, Peter Mittag, Roman Imperial Coinage II.3: From AD 117 to AD 138 - Hadrian (p. 20). You can read this section via Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=D...ECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=hadrian dupondius&f=false Hadrian Æ Dupondius (c. 134-138 A.D.) Rome Mint [HADRI]ANVS [AVG COS III P P], laureate bust right / FID[ES PVBLI]CA S C, Fides standing right, holding two corn-ears downwards, in right hand and basket of fruit in left. RIC II, 3 2269; BMC 1591; (old RIC 890d (dupondius)) (12.15 grams / 23 x 20 mm) eBay Jan. 2021 Attribution Note: "Laureate bust" dupondius; Hadrian struck these c. 128-138 A.D. This type with "PVBLICA" is rare; OCRE has one, which is in the Münzkabinett, Kunst Historisches Museum Wien; British Museum has one as well. http://www.ikmk.at/object?id=ID61754 http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2.hdn.809d_as
Perhaps we should mention that the issue of the orichalcum as was accompanied by the same design in half size which we call a semis. When buying from photos, we must make note of the weight. In hand, the difference is obvious. As 7.09g (but toned an unfortunate brown color that hides the brass color) Mine is not the lightest I have seen and a few top 9g. Semis 4.3g These seem to vary a lot in weight, too. Mint priorities did not include weighing little bronzes individually. These seem to be rather well centered with decent workmanship for such low value coins.
I have one of these as well. RIC II Trajan 660 Date Range: AD 114 - AD 117 Radiate and draped bust of Trajanus right Legend: IMP CAES NER TRAIAN OPTIM AVG GER DAC PARTHICO S.C. within oak wreath P M TR POT XX COS VI P P 6.77 gr. 23 mm
OCTAVIAN (as AUGUSTUS) AE Dupondius (?) (20.33 g.) Rome 7 B.C. RIC 429 CAESAR AVGVST PONT MAX TRI – BVNIC POT Laureate head l., crowned by Victory stg. behind and holding cornucopiae. Rev. M SALVIVS OTHO III VIR A A A F F around S C Note the high weight (20.33 g.). From RIC: It is not clear how these heavier copper pieces fitted into the monetary system. Mattingly inclined against view that they were asses and in favour of dupondii, though he also called them 'triumphal coinage,' relating the obv. figure of Victory to Tiberius' triumph of 7 BC. Giard preferred to call them 'medallions,' though it may be wondered if the concept of a medallion of purely monetary style would have been possible.
