We have all seen Roman denarii which have been notched on the edges. There have been any number of explanations for why they were so minted that way. The most common is probably to demonstrate that the coin is not plated, though, as a matter of fact, there are plated serrated denarii. Reading the background of this particular denarius (Sear 157, 2000 edition) it was issued in Narbo, Gallia in about 118 BC, to commemorate a victory over the Gallic war chief, Bituitus, (who may be the Gallic warrior on the reverse). It made me wonder, since the serration feature of the coin stands out, perhaps the reason for the serration was to call attention to the issue, either to honor the family who then founded a Roman Colony in Narbo or the fact that it was issued in Narbo, rather than in Rome. Certainly a serrated coin stands out rom the usual denarii. So my questions are, is there any evidence that the serration may have been a feature designed to get the user's attention or what other reasons might there be why serrated coins were occasionally issued?
Here is an example of the plated serrated denarii: L. Memmius Galeria, Denarius (106 BC), fourree (plated), 2.60g, 19mm Obv: Saturn head l. Rev: Venus in biga r Crawford 313/1b ex-Frank S Robinson, November 2016 Bargain List, lot 122
Tacitus (who wrote Germania in the first century A.D.) said that the Germanic tribes, “value gold and silver for their use in commerce, and are wont to distinguish and prefer certain of our coins. They like old-fashioned coins because they have been long familiar with them-- especially those which have notched edges and are stamped with representations of two-horse chariots.” (Tacitus Germania Book 5)
Probably since these first Century BC coins were usually close to pure silver whereas in his day the denarius was debased by about 10-12% and the barbarians were sophisticated enough to pick up on that.
Clipping wasn't really a thing at this point in Roman history. There were also moneyers that minted both serrate and non-serrate types so it doesn't seem they felt all the denarii needed this feature, just certain ones(perhaps those intended for payments in certain markets). Here's a moneyer who minted both serrate and standard denarii, L Procilius:
Like the reeding or lettering of later milled coins? Never thought of the serrati before in that sense but if that worked why would they not use it on all of their silver or gold coinage? By the way I have never seen or heard of gold coinage being serrated. Perhaps the Romans serrated their coinage when it was likely to be used by barbarians (as in Gaul at this time) who were more likely to clip the coinage than the Romans themselves. I do know later siliquae circa 400 AD were mercilessly clipped by either the Germanic barbarians or the Romans themselves. The Roman moneyers had to have a reason for this serrating process as each of these notches had to be done by hand (unless they had serrating machines) which involved considerable labor for those at the mint. Unless this was an added feature to create busy work for bored mint workers there had to be a rational reason for all this notching.
