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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David Atherton, post: 8228400, member: 82616&quot;]Normally, quadrantes come in fairly ratty condition due to their small size and heavy circulation wear. This one, I believe, escapes most of those pitfalls. Not rare by any means, the eye appeal more than makes up for that.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1446259[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Domitian</b></p><p>Æ Quadrans, 2.55g</p><p>Rome Mint, 84-85 AD</p><p>Obv: IMP DOMIT AVG GERM; Minerva head, helmeted, r.</p><p>Rev: S C in field; Olive branch</p><p>RIC 240 (C). BMC 491. BNC 525.</p><p>Acquired from NumisCorner, February 2022.</p><p><br /></p><p>Domitian struck a fairly large issue of undated quadrantes early in his reign. RIC places them within the 84-85 time period based on Domitian titled as &#039;Germanicus&#039; (&#039;GERM&#039; - which could only be post 83) and before 85 (after which all these small issues were dated). RIC also speculates many of these quadrantes were struck &#039;al marco&#039;, i.e. by batch weight, because of the variable weights encountered on many specimens. Domitian&#039;s patron deity Minerva features prominently on the obverse of this quadrans and is paired with an olive branch, the symbol of peace.</p><p><br /></p><p>The quadrans in the early imperial period typically lacked an imperial portrait. Tariffed at a quarter of an As, the denomination was possibly deemed too lowly by mint officials to warrant a portrait. They were struck haphazardly and functioned primarily as an urban low value coinage in Rome and central Italy. The quadrans was the typical fee for entry into the baths, a urinal, or for a tryst in a cheap brothel. Being of rather low value quadrantes were not typically hoarded and thus are relatively scarce today being virtually absent from site finds outside central and south-central Italy (in contrast, over 1,827 quadrantes have been found at Pompeii).</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Please show your quadrantes!</p><p><br /></p><p>Thank you for looking![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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