Featured Ancients: The Evolution of Roman Coinage (Aes Grave)

Wanna sell that one to me, Doug?

 

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Sell family? I hope she did not hear you.

 

I would dare to guess not even up for adoption. : - )

 

You know they will find there way over here one way or another.

 

I'd really like to see it too!
I was not referring to a multiple but I dimly recall I was researching early types of cast Aes. I don't know if it was a collection in the British Museum or my Thurlow & Vechi book, c. 1979, but type #1: Head of beardless Janus, marked "I" / Hd. of Mercury is listed with a weight range of 400.92 - 310 grams. The semis of the same type also are listed with a big wt range: 205.9 - 155.5 g. I do not recall the weights of many at auction personally. I'll try to record the weights of those I see on a spreadsheet.

Due to this topic as well as the fact that after have gotten initiated by buying my 1st As Grave (the common type 51) in 2012, I am eager to get a few of the earlier As. Thus I do not have any more of my own to show, I am very sorry, but I'm working on correcting this deficiency.

At the "Extreme other end of the Beast", I am proud to mention that due to someone on this very thread's recommendation, I contacted Ed Waddell and bought his Julius Nepos tremissis. Posting it here would be a bit off topic tho.

 

Fortunately all the Italian collections of note appear to reside in San Marino, inside Italy, but an independent Republic which can legally export As Graves.

Obviously many collectors & myself believe such historical coins should not be repatriated back to the countries of origin but are best preserved and displayed by private collectors. One extreme and unfortunate instance of this is the recent destruction of ancient Persian artifacts and cities by Isis. Another is the destruction of German museums by Allied bombers during WW-II. Also even when museums have coin talks, their curators are not particularly knowledgeable about the history and significance of the numismatic items they own.

My Aes Grave has been shown to a school class although it was gotten after I did my BSA coin collecting merit badge class. (I'm currently in Brazil until next year).

 

I agree completely with what you say regarding coins are better off in collection rather than in museums in far off lands where most people have no access. My reply was mostly too say that I think its great that you share your knowledge and collection with school kids. We could use more of that in our hobby. I used my collection to do a business thesis for a class back when I was in college.

 

http://www.coinweek.com/coins/news/ancient-coin-collectors-guild-comments-at-italy-cpac-hearing/

 

Thanks to you late in 2018 I did finally acquire a wheel type Aes Grave As. This was at a Gorny auction, tho I paid more than (the coin dealer?) sniped the piece at 2 years previously, there was no serious competition for this coin at auction. Definitely Not an investment item, but still I'm very happy to have it.

My motivation for the piece was of course your semis. It has supplanted my Janus Head type in my high school presentations. I have seen earlier types too but this type got to me for some reason.

Wheel type Aes Grave As, ca. 269 - 240 BC, wt ~279 grams

 

Great write up, AncientJoe. I hope you do a follow up with the other denominations of cast republican coins. Here's a double as that I was interested in buying. It eventually sold for 26,000 EUR; that was quite a bit over my limit.



MÜNZEN DER RÖMISCHEN REPUBLIK. Æ-Dupondius, 265/242 v. Chr., Rom, anonym; 571,14 g. Romakopf r. mit phrygischem Helm, dahinter II//Rad mit sechs Speichen, in einem Zwischenraum II. BMC 1; Crawf. 24/2; Syd. 58.
RR Grüne Patina, sehr schön
Aus der Sammlung Eberhard Link.
Exemplar der Auktion NAC 7, Zürich 1994, Nr. 366.
Wie die Vorderseite dieses äußerst seltenen Dupondius erkennen läßt, gehört diese Münzserie mit dem Rad zu der Reihe von Didrachmen, die auf der Vorderseite den Kopf der Roma und auf der Rückseite die Siegesgöttin Victoria zeigen.

What a chunk of bronze to be carrying around!

 

I do really like these coins. I saw one in London but did not buy it.... other coins got in the way But i did get this one. I had for a number of years a Post Semi-Libral As as well
1. As Crawford 35/1 No bar on obverse 272.48 grams
2. Post Semi-Libral As Crawford 41/5a Seems to be on the Quadrantal standard Photos not to scale.

 

Congratulations on the As. It seems to be a very nice one. I don't have the Crawford book tho I do have Vecchi & Thurlow, Italian Cast Coinage (1983 or 85) which deals exclusively with these. They provide a table with #'s of known specimens, dates, and weight range. They're very impressive coins to own.

 

I love these pieces. They are crude and not very elegant, but they are massive and in an intriguing way seem appropriate for the times. Rome was just emerging as a world super power, contending with her rival Carthage. It wasn't at all clear how successful at this she would be until Scipio took the fight to Carthage. I like to regard these pieces as a kind of metaphor of Rome's evolution to greatness.
.

 

Actually that's not unexpected pricewise. I recall one of the multiples selling for around 44K some years ago. I think there was also a triple As of this series as well. The multiples are extremely rare. Vecchi & Thurlow may list 12 of the doubles (dupondii) and 4 of the triples and maybe a unique sestersius? Of the regular Wheel types As, there were 44 known and 1200 of the Janus Head/ Galley Prow type. Bear in mind this was 1983 so undoubtedly more have been found with the advent of more sophisticated metal detectors. We don't have to worry about ocean salvage tho.

If you ever do a Roman coin presentation to kids, you Must have one of these. The below photo was from 2018. I just finished my presentations to 10 classes also this year as a volunteer [at the same school] but the novelty has worn off & the administration did not take any pictures.

 

I also use my coins for seminars in schools and at universities. I have not used my As grave as I acquired it only recently. But many of the coins that I have shared on this site I have used and used repeatedly. This is another aspect of my hobby which I enjoy. In fact my collection is oriented towards being used in seminars. On a side note, at the New York International I saw one of the Roma / Wheel dupondii. It was really impressive and for sale. Despite the fact it really doesn't fit into what I am doing, if I had the money I would probably try to buy it.

 

Luceria AES Grave Anonymous 217-215 BCE Uncia 7.35g Frog-Corn Ear pellet retrograde L T-V 285


RR Aes Grave Uncia 269-240 BCE Astragalus knuckle-bones


RR AE Aes Grave Sextans 270 BCE 37mm 55.28g Dioscuri R and L


RR Aes Grave AE Quadrans Dog 3 pellets Six spoked wheel 59.8g Craw 26/6a Th-Vecchi 34


RR Aes Grave Anon 280-276 BCE Triens 46mm 90.3g 9.3mm thick Tbolt-Dolphin Rome Crawford 14/3 T Vecchi 3

 

ITALIA Aes Formatum AE Bronze Ax Head ca 5th-4th C BCE sextans size 44.8mm 56g


Italia Aes Rude - bronze ca 5th-4th Century BCE 29.7mm 32.4g Uncia?


Oscan-Latin Aes Formatum shell 25mm 12.8g Semuncia?



Aes Formatum Oscan-Latin shell with Ribs obv-rev 4th BCE Semuncia?


Etruria or Umbria Aes Grave

 

Nobody cares about Roman Republican bronze: except true collectors. I haven't seen any upwards price movement on these. By contrast all the big money people are going nuts for any type of Roman & Greek gold.

My 1st piece, the type 51 or the most common Janus Head / Galley Prow with mark of denomination came from the auction firm Artemede Asta in Italy which handles these. It was accurately represented from the auction write up (it may have been a tad nicer in person) and came with full export certificates & all. I recall some years ago they had a run of Aes Grave including some of the very earliest pieces.

Oh, as a happy side note, you probably won't have to worry about counterfeit NGC/PCGS slabs! At least not any time soon.

 

I'm glad there's not much upward movement in prices, because I really need to put the Wabi Sabi glasses on when looking at that department of my collection.

 

I am a big fan of cast bronze money and have invested in a few books.
Thurlow and Vecchi is the best buy on the subject. I use the book often. The number of wheel type Asses is from a much older book: Aes Grave by E J Haeberlin, 1910. I am sure that several aes grave have been sold since then. I found 14 examples when I searched for Roma / Wheel asses a year ago. The average and lowest weights of new examples was lower than Haberlin's data. The pic below is from an older book, Garrucci, that used drawings instead of pictures.