When did Rome start using mint marks?

I attend several local coin clubs and one has a coin quiz with prizes and your name placed on a board. This question was asked at the last meeting. We were asked to answer a, b, c or d.

 

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"Rome" as in, the Roman Empire? Or, the Imperial mint of Rome?

 

3rd century

 

And, I guess it opens up the rabbit hole if control marks equal mint marks. Plenty of republican coins had those.

Does the OP mean "R", like we'd see on tetrarchal coins?

 

Well, the Romans starting using mint marks as control marks on coins as early as on the Roma / Victory didrachms which Crawford dates around 265 - 242 BC. If you mean a mark signifying a mint, then maybe the earliest are bronze coins with a corn ear signifying Sicily, put on quadrans around 216 BC. And if you're thinking of a letter representing a mint location, the earliest might be L for Luceria on the bronze series around 214 - 212 BC.

 

I think the answer is 3rd century BC. I have several aes grave coins and some struck bronze coins with what many think are mint marks.

HAT = Hatria


ETRURIA, Volterrae


corn ear = Sicily


L = Luceria

 

Victor, what / when was the first Roman mint mark? Was it on Imperial LRB or Provincial?

 

Gallienus was the first to use mint marks in a systematic manner. Aurelian the first to use mint marks to explicitly identify the mint city and Diocletian the first to use do this across all operating mints in coordination.

All of this occurred in the latter half of the 3rd century.

Rasiel

 

I would agree with others that mint marks on Roman coins probably happened in the 3d to 2d century BC. When Rome minted the victoriatus for trade with the Magna Grecian colonies c. 221-170 BC, some include an L for what many now believe is a mintmark for Luceria. This happened during a similar period to the bronze series that @scarborough mentions above. There are others like "N", "Q" and "MP" which some believe is a mintmark for Metapontum: https://www.colleconline.com/en/ite...ican-imperial-mp-series-victoriatus-rrc-93-1a

@red_spork did a detailed writeup on these previously: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/an-enigmatic-isolated-issue-of-victoriati-with-ᴎ-mintmark.387761/

 

I would have guessed 3rd century, for the reasons Rasiel gives. But it seems others have a compelling argument for something like a mint mark up to 5 centuries earlier! The more you find out the less you know...