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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1953018, member: 19463&quot;]There is a lot about these that I would like to know but particularly I would like to understand the great variation we see in quality of workmanship.&nbsp; I&#039;m not talking about differences in grade caused by wear and corrosion but differences of the type that separate Barbarous radiates from the regular coinage of the Gallic emperors they copy.&nbsp; Bing&#039;s first two coins pretty much show the range.&nbsp; What explains this?&nbsp; Were these made over many years or copied by rural tribes?&nbsp; Ideas?</p><p><br /></p><p>My two Castulo bulls differ greatly in style and the height of the relief but neither is particularly crude.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]342687[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]342688[/ATTACH]</p><p>I selected my Castulo sphinx because it was a very weak strike and showed what I considered an interesting technique in manufacture.&nbsp; The flan was cast in a recess, probably carved in a stone, with tapered sides that would assist in removing the blank from the mold after cooling.&nbsp;&nbsp; There is no sign of a sprue or evidence that blanks were cast in a chain.&nbsp;&nbsp; The blank was placed on the head die and struck with the reverse sphinx.&nbsp; Most coins of the type were hit harder and the blank flattened out but this one retained the stone textured, tapered edges.&nbsp; It was not struck hard enough to force metal into the outer edges of the reverse die so no legend under the sphinx is found.&nbsp;&nbsp; The second (red) bull has signs of connections to adjacent molds in a chain.&nbsp; I believe the green bull may have been made more like the sphinx but it was hit hard enough that the coin is evenly round and flat with full legends.&nbsp; Zumbly&#039;s and Bing&#039;s sphinxes (or is it sphinges?) were struck with the opposite side of the blank up so his tape is on the head side and the flat around the sphinx.&nbsp; That worked better for legends.&nbsp;&nbsp; The OP is like mine.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]342689[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I love technical matters of coin production as best as we can deduce them from evidence on the coins.&nbsp; We have no records that shed light on such matters.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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