An Imitation Roman Republican semis struck in Spain

This is a new addition to my numophylacium, acquired from @John Anthony's Vcoins store. I didn't know much about these imitation or unofficial coins of the Roman Republic minted in Spain and it inspired me to learn more. I'd like to share some of what I have been able to learn about them. I hope that true experts, such as @Andrew McCabe and @Valentinian, join in the discussion to correct and clarify my undoubtedly incomplete understanding of these coins' place in ancient Roman numismatics.

Spanish Imitative Issue.
Roman Republican Æ semis, 5.70 g, 20.1 mm, 4 h.
Uncertain mint, 1st century BC.
Obv: Laureate head of Saturn, right; S (mark of value) behind.
Rev: Prow, right; S above; ROMA below.
Refs: ACIP 2659; Burgos R44.​

Warren Esty has an excellent page about these Republican imitation semisses from Spain, with photographs of many specimens.[1] Warren, better known here as @Valentinian, writes:

Republican AE was struck in vast numbers in the first half of the second century BC. The as was discontinued in 146 BC, and only small numbers of lower denominations continued to be struck until 135-127 BC, when large issues of semisses and quadrantes were struck. Then production returned to very small numbers until 90 - 87 BC (the War between the Allies = Social War) when production of asses was temporarily resumed. After that, there were only a few very small issues until Augustus resumed regular production of AES. The old AE coins remained in circulation for decades. Today most specimens are very worn.

Apparently, the need for additional small-denomination coins prompted the production of imitations, probably in the second half of the first century BC. Crawford and Stannard have drawn attention to the "many" imitations of minor bronze coins of the late Republic. These imitations are found in central Italy and Spain, but very rarely seen on the market in the US.​

@Andrew McCabe notes that these Saturn-prow semisses are "of tolerably good style," and notes that their production was likely sanctioned by the authorities in Rome:

Really these were probably regular Roman coinage. Was it likely that small change would be shipped from Italy? No, of course not, and the issues in this set - as distinct from the (imitative) local small change issues - were probably Roman.[2]​

These issues were discussed in detail on the third day of a recent ANS conference on the coinage of the Roman provinces.[3] The third paper of the session, delivered by P. P. Ripollès, focused on the unofficial imitations of Roman Republican asses produced in Spain.[4] In his presentation and in a relevant article about the unofficial Roman Republican semisses struck in Spain co-authored by Richard Witschonke,[5] Ripollès similarly argues that the Spanish imitations were not counterfeits, but should be considered a local response to the chronic shortage of small change caused by Rome's irregular production of bronze denominations. He also showed that these imitations, produced by non-state and non-civic mints, were produced on a large scale, comparable to medium-size mints such as Castulo. The scale of this phenomenon shows that the Romans were not only aware of it, but probably encouraged it.[6]

Here's a very educational video produced by the ANS featuring a lecture by Professor Ripollès, "The Impact of Roman Republican Coinage on Spanish Local Issues."



Do you have any Spanish imitation bronzes of the Roman Republic? Let's see them!

~~~

Notes

1. Esty, Warren. Roman Republican AE Imitations, Http://Augustuscoins.com, http://augustuscoins.com/ed/imit/imitationrepAE.html.

2. McCabe, Andrew. "Coins: Roman Provincial Coinage." Roman Republican Coins and Books by Andrew McCabe, Roman Provincial Coinage, Contemporary Imitative Coins, https://andrewmccabe.ancients.info/Provincial.html.

3. Carbone, Lucia. "Coinage of the Roman Provinces: Conference Highlights, Part 3." Pocket Change, 14 Apr. 2021, http://numismatics.org/pocketchange/rbw3/.

4. Ripollès Alegre, Pere Pau and Gozalbes, Manuel. "The Unofficial Roman Republican Asses produced in Spain" in Castrizio, Daniele, et al., editors. XV International Numismatic Congress Taormina 2015 Proceedings. Arbor Sapientiae Editore S.r.l, 2017, pp. 691-695. Available online here.

5. Ripollès, Pere P and Witschonke, Richard. "The Unofficial Roman Republican Semisses Struck in Spain" in Bland, Roger, et al., editors. Studies in Ancient Coinage in Honor of Andrew Burnett. Spink, 2015, pp. 51-96 and plates, pp. 47-58. Available online here.

6. See figs. 14 and 15, Carbone, op. cit.

 

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Nice capture @Roman Collector . Thanks for the writeup.


RR
Anon AE Semis
211-207 BCE
Saturn S
Prow ROMA
Sear 766 Craw 56-3
Spain Punic War probly imitative

 

Nice one, RC. A while back I got this semis in an eBay lot - it took me a long time to figure it out. Similar to the OP, but cruder - note the retrograde S:


Roman Republic Æ Semis
Spanish Imitative
(1st Century B.C.)
Spanish Mint
Diademed head of Saturn with spiky hair right, retrograde S behind / Prow right, S above, [ROMA below?]
(3.02 grams / 18 x 15 mm)
eBay Oct. 2019 Lot @ $1.89
Attribution Note: Michael Crawford, "Unofficial imitations and small change under
the Roman Republic," AIIN 29 (1982) 139-164, plates I-VIII and pages 22-226 and plates IX-XI. (Augustus Coins)

 

Somebody on CT said this one is struck in Spain ?