Most of our CT's ancient coins collectors have these dupondii, they were produced for decades and their popularity endures to this day. A very common issue. I have a couple too, but this one caught my eyes because all the details are there. It arrived last week Aes coins were struck according to mean weight and not as a pezzo (with exact weight). The coins of Nemausus need therefore to be considered as Asses, and having a too high copper component, cannot be considered dupondii. (Werz, “Gegenstempel auf Aesprägungen der frühen römischen Kaiserzeit im Rheingebiet”, pp. 54/55). Æ Crocodile Dupondius or Aes Gallia Narbonensis, Nemausus (modern Nimes), 10 -14/15 AD 26.5 mm, 13.27 g, 12h RPC I 525; RIC² 159-160; SNG Cop. 700-701; SNG Tübingen 161; C. S. 179,8; Sear 1731; Ex Robert Schonwalter Collection (Triton V, 15 January 2002), lot 1689. Pictures courtesy CNG: Please share your crocodile Aes/dupondi
Beautifully detailed example, @cmezner ! I love this type from a fascinating period of Roman history. The reverse's symbolic imagery declared a clear message. Here's my example which I purchased from Steve McBride, Incitatus, back in September of 2013. RPC I 525. 26.1 mm. 12.5 gr.
Thank you so much for sharing your Crocodile Dupondi and all your kind comments. These are my other few Crocodile Aes/ Dupondii, which I have shared before, and they should be enough coins, but when I saw the cng coin, I just couldn't resist: Class IV, 27 x 28 mm, 12.166 g Early class I or early class II: 24x25 mm, 13.919 g and another class IV: 25x26 mm, 11.355 g
The crocodile on reverse was one of the most famous ancient Roman coin-types, as early as the 16th c. By order of the king François I (1515-1547) it became the official coat of arms of the city of Nîmes (but the palm branch became a whole palm tree). In the late 20th c. the industrial designer Philippe Starck redrew it to look more contemporaneous. This image of a crocodile raising its tail became emblematic. It is the same crocodile we see as logo for the Lacoste brand since the 1930s : or we can see it playing with Milou in "Tintin au Congo" : But there is a problem: actual crocodiles never raise their tail. If you know a crocodile, just ask it, it will confirm. A crocodile's tail always rests on the ground, or in the water. Other ancient coin-types representing crocodiles show them with their tail on the ground. For example these denarii of Augustus or Juba II of Mauretania, or this large AE Alexandrian drachm of Antoninus Pius: (not my coins) So, it may be interesting to trace the origin of such an unnaturalistic representation of a crocodile raising its tail. On Roman sculptures, paintings, mosaics, crocodiles seem to be always represented with a resting tail. But there are exceptions : crocodiles with a raised tail are figured on two nilotic mosaics, the great nilotic mosaic of Palestrina (1st c. BC) : and the 2nd c. AD nilotic mosaic from a villa on the Aventine, now at the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome : Both mosaics, the one of the 1st c. BC from Palestrina and the one of the 2nd c. AD from the Aventine, are obviously inspired by some lost masterpiece of Alexandrian hellenistic art, probably a mosaic too, or a painted picture, representing the flooded Egyptian landscape with plants, animals, buildings, people and boats, etc. The most naturalistic depiction of a crocodile is the one from the Aventine mosaic, and we can see it may not be raising its tail but is just seen from slightly above, like on this photograph: The lost Alexandrian prototype of the Nilotic landscape had been a very famous picture in Hellenistic times, and its crocodile seen from slightly above with a curved tail was probably a striking image, imitated by numerous artists. Some people who had never seen a living crocodile had this image in mind. It was probably the case for the 1st c. AD people who draw the reverse type of the Nemausus dupondii.
Thank you so much @GinoLR for all this information. It seems that ancient Romans were not afraid of crocodiles at all
Beautiful example @cmezner, they rarely get any better ! A plain one (class IV) : And two halves (both class III) : Q
Nemausus (Nîmes, France), dupondius. AE 27 mm, 13.20 g, 2 h. Obv.: IMP DIVI F P P, inscription above and below heads of Agrippa laureate wearing rostral crownto left, and Augustus laureate to right back to back. Rev.: COL NEM, inscription to left and right of a palm to which a crocodile, opening mouth and raising tail, is chained; above palm, wreath with long ties. RPC I, 525
Wow @cmezner ... well done, beautiful Dup. RI Augustus oak crown Agrippa rostral crown L AE Dupondius 26mm 12.6g Type III 9-3 BCE Nemausus chained Croc wreaths RIC I 158
