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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtisimo, post: 7970848, member: 83845&quot;]First of all I want to apologize for my delayed response to your excellent reply. I have been away from the forum for a few days.</p><p><br /></p><p>I am glad that you decided to respond and lay out the argument for the abacus attribution. As I said in my OP the main reason I wanted this type was because I believed it to be an abacus and so it is a win-win from my perspective no matter which object it was meant to represent.</p><p><br /></p><p>I do still think that the counting board theory is the mostly likely explanation both for the OP Liberalitas type as well as the coins you added to the post.</p><p><br /></p><p>As you say the Nero bronzes are the best example of the scene on coins. There are two designs on his bronzes that I am aware of. One is the type you posted a photo of and the other is slightly different. I think these two coins show different phases of the same process. See below.</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #404040"><b><u>The Documentation</u></b></span></font></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1382655[/ATTACH]</p><p>I believe that this scene shows the citizen in the first phase of the process which would be documenting the transaction. The citizen approaches the podium and gives account of his name to the figure seated in the middle of the scene. If you look carefully the seated figure is holding something that I believe is a stylus used to mark the name of the citizen. Look carefully at the figure and he appears to be writing on the table instead of handing something to the citizen. The figure with the counting board stands behind and holds up the board to show to all present the amount to be distributed.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1382656[/ATTACH]</p><p>Even on the Arch of Constantine we see individuals writing on a scroll or tablet to keep records (top right). It would make sense in order to limit the instances of citizens trying to cheat the system.</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #404040"><b><u>The Distribution</u></b></span></font></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1382657[/ATTACH]</p><p>I believe the second type shows the second part of the scene, which is the distribution. Here we see a figure next to the emperor at right. On the far left we see the citizen holding out the sinus of his toga. The person holding the counting board extends it over the outstretched sinus, presumably either before or after dumping the coins to show the deed is done. A statue of Minerva is located in the background and appears to also be holding <strike>the counting board</strike> (edit: actually an owl... see below)! I don’t think the vertical orientation of the board is all that important. It could be just a function of representing a 3D scene on a 2D surface.</p><p><br /></p><p>As to whether the counting board on the Arch of Constantine has a handle I cannot tell from the images I could find. If anyone else has a higher resolution photo of the scene please share. I think it’s possible that there is a handle and it’s just difficult to tell for sure based on photos and the condition of the relief itself.</p><p><br /></p><p>I also think that the designs that show Liberalitas emptying coins from a cornucopia are probably experiments during the Nerva Antonine period before the iconography of Liberalitas was full established.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also welcome to CT! I hope you stick around and join in with more discussions! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks Michael!&nbsp; You are correct it was Herb. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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