Finally acquired a "al marco" or as Doug calls them, scoops for the weight adjustment on the flan. I have wanted one for awhile and finally acquired one as part of a trade. PUBLIUS FURIUS CRASSIPES (84 B.C.) AR Denarius O: AED CVR, turretted head of Cybele right. Long oval gouge and tool mark across Cybele's head (al marco weight adjustments). R: Curule chair inscribed P FOVRIUS, CRASSIPES in exergue. Rome Mint 3.9g 20.5mm RCV 275 Publius Furius strikes here not as moneyer, but as a special issue in his role as Curule Aedile, hence the curule chair bearing his name.
A nice find. I too looked for one for a long time and was luck enough to obtain one to add to my Papius, gryphon sub-collection.
Neat find. I don't have one, but I do have a Crassipes Denarius: P. FURIUS CRASSIPES ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS FURIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: Turreted head of Cybele (Tyche) right, behind, foot pointing upwards, AED.CVR behind head REVERSE: Curule chair inscribed P FOVRIVS; CRASSIPES in exergue Rome 84 BC 3.88g. 19mm Cr 356/1c; Syd 735b
That's quite a scoop. Sometimes these things look like they were done before the strike, sometimes after. I can never tell the difference. Any ideas on that?
oh thats cool mat. i din't know what the difference was between your coin and bings...so the "wear" is intentional to reduce the weigt of the coin. neato.
Nice => that's pretty cool, Mat (neat addition) ... sadly, I don't have a scooped-coin (*sigh* .... yup, more coins)
Good pics of dougs scoops. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-roman-republican-upgrade.237550/#post-1802549
Very cool, Martin. Yours doesnt seem to destroy the design as mine. I have seen other types of my coin with scoops to, but not many.
They are weigth adjustments, often called Stannard Scoops. Clive Stannard published an article on them in 1993 that can be found here:- http://www.stannard.info/website/Publications.html
I do not recall calling these by that name. Stannard Scoops strike me as better honoring the man whose article described the how and why of the 'damage'. I can not say I recall seeing one I thought was done after the striking but I suppose it is possible. 'Al marco' simply means that the coins were not individually weight adjusted but that a certain number of them were made from a certain weight of metal. Lets say that they wanted 80 coins from a pound of silver. They would melt a bit more than a pound and pour it out into eighty molds as evenly as they could until all the silver that could would come out of the crucible (some will be retained on the pot). They would weigh the whole thing and hope that the total was very slightly over a pound. If not, they would have to start over using a bit more silver. If it was, coins would be selected from the group and gouged a bit with a weight taken after each one (or more as they felt comfortable) until the total was exactly a pound. Then, the coins could be struck producing 80 that weighed exactly what they should. No one would lose any silver or be charged with profiting by striking too small coins. This system makes sense when the maker is a contractor. Later, when coins were made by government shops with government labor, the importance of not cheating the public was less than when the reputation of a moneyer was at stake. Some adjusted coins would be struck hard enough that the scoop would be erased or nearly erased leaving only a little weakness on the coin. Martin's coin is one of these. The OP coin was scooped deeper and hit less hard so it shows more 'damage' and even has weakness on the back where the metal was too thin to fill the die. My coins show deep scoops made with a gouge that stuttered each time the chisel was tapped. Some like the OP might have been smoothly gouged with a single, even blow of the hammer on chisel. My first has three steps from three taps. The second has eight (my personal best) probably indicating a rapid lighter tapper. Most sellers hate these enough that you can get a deal on the damaged coin. I do not pay extra for them but I do like them as interesting artifacts. One of my favorite people in the business (you would recognize the name) asked me what I was looking for. I said I wanted one of these that had been scooped on both sides (not just weak like the OP). He said, "WHY would you want that?" You know I am crazy; some people are slower to accept that fact than others. A two sider would occur only when the worker making the adjustment accidentally grabbed the same coin a second time not noticing it was already scooped on the other side. These are scarce and UGLY! I have seen photos but not one for sale...yet. You are much more likely to find these in the stock of low end dealers unless they occur on a rare type in which case the top drawer seller will probably just say something like 'weak spot'.
