I saw this coin offered in a recent auction and it haunted me. It is a great example of a cast coin: large (at 204 grams it is considered smallish), well cast (there are not a lot of features on this coin, but they are all there), good eye appeal, not much wear or environmental damage and old (Crawford says 265 to 243 BC and Vecchi says a bit later about 230 BC). The coin arrived this week and looks as good in hand as I had hoped. Roman Republican AE Cast As, Roma/Wheel series, Rome, c. 265-242 BC. Obv - Head of Roma right, wearing Phrygian helmet with pinnate crest; behind, mark of value I, set horizontally. Rev - Six-spoked wheel; between two spokes, I. References, I have several for cast bronze. Cr, RRC 24/3 265 to 242 BC; wt std = 270 grams Gr, BMCRR - RSC / Bab - I could not find the coin in Babelon. BMC, Italy pg 53, #2, note I do not have this book T&V 31 269 to 240 BC Vecchi ICC 66 230 BC; Rome; wt std 270 grams Syd, CRR 59 8 – extremely rare Syd, AG 86 pl 11, #4 Syd collection 112 Sear, RCV 525 HN Italy 326. Haeb. pl. 24,4-10; average weight of 44 examples = 271.31 Garrucci T. XXXIX, #3 Kircheriano T. VIII, #2 204.48 grams 66.0 mm 12 H RR. A light example. Very rare. Lovely earthen emerald green patina. Good VF/About EF. Before I bought this coin, I did an internet search. I found several examples, 14. That is a lot for a coin listed as extremely rare. The weight data from internet searches is lower than the data from Haeberline. There were only two recent coins above Haeberline's average and five below his minimum. Data Internet Haeberline Weight, mine 204.4 Weight - max 282.2 307.7 Weight - min 204.4 228.2 Weight - avg 239.7 271 Weight - st dev 23.3 Number 14 44 Diameter - max 66 Diameter - max 66.0 Diameter - min 60.0 Diameter - avg 61.8 Diameter - st dev 2.2 Grade, eem gVF Grade, seller gVF / EF Centering well centered Strike nice casting with good features Flan flaws none Style typical Patination I see brown, seller said emerald green Post your big wheels.
Great As, Gene. I have Aes Grave denominations up to a Triens. My next Aes targets are an As and a Semis. Here is one of my Wheels. It is a “lowly” Quadrans, but weighs in at just shy of 60g. ROMAN Republic Aes Grave Issue, Æ Quadrans, 59.82g Mint of Rome Anonymous issue; ca. 269-242 BCE Obv: dog walking left, three pellets below Rev six-spoked wheel, three pellets between Ref: Cr 24/6a; Thurlow-Vecchi 34 Comments Dark green patina, fine. Ex: from the David Sellwood Collection
Wow, that's a big beautiful piece of bronze @rrdenarius ! I wish I had a big wheel to post, but I did have one of these in the 70's...you'll not the rear wheel design is clearly similar to the as reverse.
Beautiful coin! It's amazing to think that these were made when Rome was first struggling with Carthage. some of my wheels series... quad. , quad. , semis , As , triens , and Sextans.
Hunka, Hunka!! That's an awesome coin Gene. I'm not too familiar with this early cast "wheel" coinage, but I'm definitely going to make it a point to learn more. -d
I love these big cast early Roman coins. they are particularly impressive in hand. I've held them in my hand but never owned one. Thanks for sharing.
That doesn't strike me as too surprising when you consider that buyers of aes grave (including museums) typically want the heaviest examples available It's part of the charm. Haeberlin's corpus is largely made up of examples from museums and major private collectors of the early 20th century, all of whom would probably favor heavy examples and might thereby skew the averages. This is similar to the tendancy of museum collections to include rarities - often making them seem more common than frequency in trade.
Yes, my wife is knitting that shawl. We are collecting addiction enablers. We attended the NYINC for two years when Vogue Knitting Live New York was the same week. She likes colorful yarns, most of the time. Two current projects, an Advent yarn set and one her favorite shirts.
