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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Carausius, post: 2772602, member: 76440&quot;]Here are the wolf and twins from an earlier Roman Republican bronze.&nbsp; The coin is an AE Sextans of the semi-libral reduction, struck 217-215 BC.&nbsp; Crawford 39/3.</p><p><br /></p><p>Obv: She-wolf suckling the twins Romulus and Remus; two pellets (value mark) below.</p><p><br /></p><p>Rev: Eagle with flower in beak: two pellets (value mark) behind; ROMA before..</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin was struck in the midst of the Second Punic War, while Hannibal was marauding the countryside of Italy.&nbsp; It&#039;s imagry, together with the images on the other coins in this series, was clearly pro-Roman, and projected the divine favor in the founding of Rome. </p><p><br /></p><p>The semi-libral reduction was a reduction in the weight of the Roman As, the base unit of currency, from one Roman pound of bronze to a half-pound of bronze. The reduction was likely triggered by financial panic and raw material shortages following massive defeats of Rome against Hannibal in the early years of the war.&nbsp; The semi-libral reduction reduced the size and weight of the coins, facilitating struck coins and leading to the elimination of aes grave (cast bronze coins).</p><p><br /></p><p>EDIT: Shortly after posting this, I pulled some old auction catalogues off the shelf for perusal.&nbsp; I found my Sextans in the first catalogue I opened! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie57" alt=":jawdrop:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />&nbsp; Ex Sternberg XXII (1989), Lot 173.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]639733[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]639734[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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