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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ryro, post: 8189923, member: 91461&quot;]Over two and a half centuries after the Greeks on Sicily struck some of, if not, THE most beautiful coins humankind would ever know the Romans were still casting large hunks of bronze to trade and barter with.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433631[/ATTACH]</p><p>(Though, rudimentary in appearance, once you&#039;ve held one you <b>need</b> to own one)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433634[/ATTACH]</p><p>(Here&#039;s a link to an article I wrote a while ago about this INSANE recent find of 75 Aes grave</p><p><a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/hoard-of-75-aes-grave-found-in-rome-yes-please.344263/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/hoard-of-75-aes-grave-found-in-rome-yes-please.344263/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/hoard-of-75-aes-grave-found-in-rome-yes-please.344263/</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p>The Romans didn&#039;t particularly care how much each denomination of these things weighed just that they got the correct number of coins from a pound of bronze, so coins of the same type, within a very short range of time are all over the place in weight. The one consistency, much like many of my elder CT pals, they kept getting smaller!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433628[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>My latest large lunk of early Roman metal is from the Quadrantal standard or Post-semilibral standard (215-212 BCE).</p><p>Always on the lookout for the type, when I saw this jade green jewel in [USER=42773]@John Anthony[/USER] &#039;s auction I was in love<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie60" alt=":kiss:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Weighing 70 grams its provenance dates back to the year my big brother was born! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie33" alt=":cigar:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433639[/ATTACH]</p><p>ROMAN REPUBLIC.</p><p>Anonymous. Circa 215-212 BC.</p><p>Æ Aes Grave As, 38mm, 70.7g, 12h; Post-semilibral series, Rome mint.</p><p>Obv.: Bearded head of Janus on raised disk.</p><p>Rev.: Prow left; I above.</p><p>Ref.: Crawford 41/5a; Sydenham 101.</p><p>Purchased from [USER=42773]@John Anthony[/USER] Jan 2022, E- Eberhard Link Collection. Ex-Münz Zentrum 88, Cologne 1997, lot 353. Peus Nachfl. 322, Frankfurt am Main 1988, lot 42. Kurpfälzische Münzhandlung 19, Mannheim 1980, lot 99. Ex-Giessener Münzhandlung 15, Munich 1979, lot 105</p><p><br /></p><p>And just for fun, here it is with one of my smallest coins, a tigers paw EL, in Janus mouth like he&#039;s blowing a small bubble:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433645[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>As a side effect of the long drawn out wars against Carthage the Romans had to cinch up their belts. This wasn&#039;t as hard as you may think due to their Ases continually deflating!<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie52" alt=":hilarious:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433642[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Over time though, bronze became less and less important and the rise of the usage of silver in Rome was under way with the advent of the Denarius<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie83" alt=":singing:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>My first As is from the Semilibral standard:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433644[/ATTACH]</p><p>ROMAN REPUBLIC. Anonymous. AE Aes Grave Triens (92.37 gms), Rome Mint, ca. 225-217 B.C. VERY FINE.</p><p>Cr-35/3a; TV-53. Obverse: Helmeted head of Minerva left; four pellets (mark of value) below; all set upon raised disk; Reverse: Prow right; four pellets (mark of value) below; all set upon raised disk. A pleasing specimen despite its crudeness, with charming green surfaces. A test cut across Minerva&#039;s face is noted for completeness.</p><p>Ex Stacks &amp; Bowers</p><p><br /></p><p>This even earlier large chonker that both the auction house and myself had mis-identified that I finally wrapped my head around a couple months ago what it actually was...a MASSIVE astragalus (knucklebone)!!!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433643[/ATTACH]</p><p>Aes premonetale. Aes formatum, AE cast Astragalus (Knucklebone), 6th-4th century BC. Cf. Haeberlin pl. 6,10</p><p>64.72 gr. 40.00mm.</p><p>Purchased from Artemide Kunstauktionen 2019</p><p><br /></p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]y8OtzJtp-EM[/MEDIA]</p><p><br /></p><p>As always, thanks for reading. Please feel free to join in the fun, it&#039;s always an added bonus if [USER=75525]@rrdenarius[/USER] stops by with some of his<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie100" alt=":wideyed:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> or anybody with massive pieces of ancient metal for that matter. Ok, ok. Or RR silver. Please pile on![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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