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<p>[QUOTE="red_spork, post: 2316809, member: 74282"]The coin I'm sharing today is a <i>silver</i> sestertius, an often overlooked denomination dating back to the introduction of the denarius. This particular sestertius is part of the Crawford 44 series, the first series of denarii, quinarii, sestertii and victoriati, struck circa 211 BC during the Roman coinage overhaul of the Second Punic War. The silver sestertius, much like the later bronze sestertius, was worth 2.5 asses(note the interesting "IIS" value mark for two, <b>II</b>, and a half, or <b>S</b>emis), or one-quarter of the 10-as denarius being struck at the time. Much like the denarius a the time, the devices are Roma/dioscuri but this thing is much tinier than a denarius, weighing approximately 1.14 grams and measuring only about 12.7mm in diameter. While this was not the only issue of sestertii, they were struck extremely infrequently throughout most of the Republican period except for a small resurgence near the end of the Republic(and even with this resurgence, these later sestertii are extremely rare). The sestertius then became the bronze or brass coin we all know and love during the coinage reform of Augustus in 23 BC.</p><p><br /></p><p>Those of you who are familiar with this coin will quickly realize why I chose this particular one: it has amazing detail and great metal that is not often seen with silver sestertii. On top of that, the flan is quite broad, leading to all but part of the border and the tips of the value mark being on-flan and even so, the value mark is nice and bold. This coin really shows the skill and attention to detail paid by the celators of the period, that this level of detail could be engraved by hand at this scale seems unreal.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]467483[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic AR Sestertius(12.75 mm, 1.14 g). Anonymous. After 211 B.C. Rome mint. Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, IIS. Border of dots / Dioscuri galloping right; in linear frame, ROMA. Line border. Crawford 44/7; Sydenham 142; RSC 4.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please share if you have anything similar! A quick note on the photo: my usual photo setup wasn't quite cut out for such a small coin. The thing I use to hold the coin up above the surface was simply too big for such a small coin but I didn't have anything else on-hand and I was excited to share the photo, so I just did a quick crop and called it a day until I have time to make a smaller coin holder.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="red_spork, post: 2316809, member: 74282"]The coin I'm sharing today is a [I]silver[/I] sestertius, an often overlooked denomination dating back to the introduction of the denarius. This particular sestertius is part of the Crawford 44 series, the first series of denarii, quinarii, sestertii and victoriati, struck circa 211 BC during the Roman coinage overhaul of the Second Punic War. The silver sestertius, much like the later bronze sestertius, was worth 2.5 asses(note the interesting "IIS" value mark for two, [B]II[/B], and a half, or [B]S[/B]emis), or one-quarter of the 10-as denarius being struck at the time. Much like the denarius a the time, the devices are Roma/dioscuri but this thing is much tinier than a denarius, weighing approximately 1.14 grams and measuring only about 12.7mm in diameter. While this was not the only issue of sestertii, they were struck extremely infrequently throughout most of the Republican period except for a small resurgence near the end of the Republic(and even with this resurgence, these later sestertii are extremely rare). The sestertius then became the bronze or brass coin we all know and love during the coinage reform of Augustus in 23 BC. Those of you who are familiar with this coin will quickly realize why I chose this particular one: it has amazing detail and great metal that is not often seen with silver sestertii. On top of that, the flan is quite broad, leading to all but part of the border and the tips of the value mark being on-flan and even so, the value mark is nice and bold. This coin really shows the skill and attention to detail paid by the celators of the period, that this level of detail could be engraved by hand at this scale seems unreal. [ATTACH=full]467483[/ATTACH] Roman Republic AR Sestertius(12.75 mm, 1.14 g). Anonymous. After 211 B.C. Rome mint. Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, IIS. Border of dots / Dioscuri galloping right; in linear frame, ROMA. Line border. Crawford 44/7; Sydenham 142; RSC 4. Please share if you have anything similar! A quick note on the photo: my usual photo setup wasn't quite cut out for such a small coin. The thing I use to hold the coin up above the surface was simply too big for such a small coin but I didn't have anything else on-hand and I was excited to share the photo, so I just did a quick crop and called it a day until I have time to make a smaller coin holder.[/QUOTE]
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