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<p>[QUOTE="Alegandron, post: 4295956, member: 51347"]Some rough thoughts from my informal readings:</p><p><br /></p><p>The Italic peoples in Central Italy had no natural precious metals outside of Copper, made into Bronze. No silver or gold. Early transactions requiring a currency were lumps of AE, weighed, and traded. The AS was the original currency unit, which was one Roman pound (Libral unit). This went on for centuries. Their history was steeped in tradition, and they adhered to Aes for years. </p><p><br /></p><p>Later, as they started trading with, and incorporating Magna Gracae into their sphere of influence, conquered, or contracted cities as Allies, (and, yeah, that Pyrrhos guy invaded!), they began using a Denarius (derivative Italic/Latin name of 10, as in 10 Asses.) It was after conquering and controlling areas that had naturally occuring precious metal mining, that they began to incorporate more silver into their coinage.</p><p><br /></p><p>First a Heavy Denarius - tariffed at 10 Asses - (Didrachm) that was approx a Shekel to Didrachm size, then devalued during the 2nd Punic War to the Denarius Reform of 211 BCE approx 4g Silver.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1093547[/ATTACH]</p><p>Italia Aes Rude - bronze ca 5th-4th Century BCE 29.7mm 32.4g rough uncia</p><p><br /></p><p>Eventully cast into Bars, Formatum, and later Coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1093550[/ATTACH]</p><p>ITALIA Aes Formatum AE Bronze Ax Head ca 5th-4th C BCE sextans size 44.8mm 56g</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1093551[/ATTACH]</p><p>Oscan-Latin Aes Formatum scallop shell with Ribs 4th BCE</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1093552[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>RR Aes Grave <b>AE Quadrans</b> 269-242 BCE Dog 3 pellets Six spoked wheel <b>59.8g</b> Craw 24-6a Th-Vecchi 34 ex Sellwood</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1093553[/ATTACH]</p><p>RR Aes Grave Anon 280-276 BCE Triens 46mm 90.3g 9.3mm thick Tbolt-Dolphin Rome Crawford 14-3 T Vecchi 3</p><p><br /></p><p>Many of these coins were being minted SIMULTANEOUSLY to the early Heavy Denarius. A lot of the RURAL farming areas still used the traditional Aes style coinage. As farms became consolidated into large wealthy Estates, silver coinage was more convenient than weighing out huge amounts of Aes coins / lumps in pounds.</p><p><br /></p><p>Original Heavy Denarius (tarriffed at 10 Asses), or modern numismatists call Didrachm</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1093557[/ATTACH]</p><p>RR 234-231 BCE AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm Apollo-Horse prancing Crawford 26-1 Sear 28</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>POST-REFORM (generally after 211 BCE) Denarius:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1093558[/ATTACH]</p><p>RR Anon AR denarius Roma 211-206 BCE ROMA incused Dioscuri single horn-helmet Sear-- Craw 68-1b SICILY R</p><p><br /></p><p>Sicily was the First Province that Rome obtained, and was when they moved from controlling the Italian Peninsula to becoming an Empire. They were an Empire under the Roman Republic for almost 200 years, before becoming a Principate / King controlled Empire under Augustus.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Alegandron, post: 4295956, member: 51347"]Some rough thoughts from my informal readings: The Italic peoples in Central Italy had no natural precious metals outside of Copper, made into Bronze. No silver or gold. Early transactions requiring a currency were lumps of AE, weighed, and traded. The AS was the original currency unit, which was one Roman pound (Libral unit). This went on for centuries. Their history was steeped in tradition, and they adhered to Aes for years. Later, as they started trading with, and incorporating Magna Gracae into their sphere of influence, conquered, or contracted cities as Allies, (and, yeah, that Pyrrhos guy invaded!), they began using a Denarius (derivative Italic/Latin name of 10, as in 10 Asses.) It was after conquering and controlling areas that had naturally occuring precious metal mining, that they began to incorporate more silver into their coinage. First a Heavy Denarius - tariffed at 10 Asses - (Didrachm) that was approx a Shekel to Didrachm size, then devalued during the 2nd Punic War to the Denarius Reform of 211 BCE approx 4g Silver. [ATTACH=full]1093547[/ATTACH] Italia Aes Rude - bronze ca 5th-4th Century BCE 29.7mm 32.4g rough uncia Eventully cast into Bars, Formatum, and later Coins. [ATTACH=full]1093550[/ATTACH] ITALIA Aes Formatum AE Bronze Ax Head ca 5th-4th C BCE sextans size 44.8mm 56g [ATTACH=full]1093551[/ATTACH] Oscan-Latin Aes Formatum scallop shell with Ribs 4th BCE [ATTACH=full]1093552[/ATTACH] RR Aes Grave [B]AE Quadrans[/B] 269-242 BCE Dog 3 pellets Six spoked wheel [B]59.8g[/B] Craw 24-6a Th-Vecchi 34 ex Sellwood [ATTACH=full]1093553[/ATTACH] RR Aes Grave Anon 280-276 BCE Triens 46mm 90.3g 9.3mm thick Tbolt-Dolphin Rome Crawford 14-3 T Vecchi 3 Many of these coins were being minted SIMULTANEOUSLY to the early Heavy Denarius. A lot of the RURAL farming areas still used the traditional Aes style coinage. As farms became consolidated into large wealthy Estates, silver coinage was more convenient than weighing out huge amounts of Aes coins / lumps in pounds. Original Heavy Denarius (tarriffed at 10 Asses), or modern numismatists call Didrachm [ATTACH=full]1093557[/ATTACH] RR 234-231 BCE AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm Apollo-Horse prancing Crawford 26-1 Sear 28 POST-REFORM (generally after 211 BCE) Denarius: [ATTACH=full]1093558[/ATTACH] RR Anon AR denarius Roma 211-206 BCE ROMA incused Dioscuri single horn-helmet Sear-- Craw 68-1b SICILY R Sicily was the First Province that Rome obtained, and was when they moved from controlling the Italian Peninsula to becoming an Empire. They were an Empire under the Roman Republic for almost 200 years, before becoming a Principate / King controlled Empire under Augustus.[/QUOTE]
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