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currency-bar
Object Type
currency-bar
Museum number
R1867,0101.1
Denomination
aes signatum
Description
Cast copper alloy currency-bar (aes signatum).
(whole)
Anchor.
(obverse)
Tripod.
(reverse)
State
Associated with:
Roman Republic
Ancient Greece and Rome: Roman Republic
Authority
Issuer:
Anonymous
Cultures/periods
Roman Republican
Production date
280BC-250BC
(circa)
Production place
Minted in:
Rome (city)
Findspot
Excavated/Findspot:
Castel Gandolfo
(1819)
Materials
copper alloy
Technique
cast
Dimensions
Weight:
1495.000 grammes
Curator's comments
Copper alloys were used as currency in northern and central Italy in the form of scrap and cast into bars. The earliest bars contained copper and iron, and apparently circulated from the 6th to 3rd centuries BC, mainly in Etruria. They were very brittle, and it seems likely that the iron was introduced to increase their weight. The weight was not fixed at this stage, but when the Romans started to make their own currency bars, they adopted a standard of about 5 Roman pounds. Rome copied the central Italian idea of making currency bars in the late 4th century BC, and continued to make them until about 250 BC. As well as being made to a fixed weight standard, they have a varied range of designs.
Bibliographic references
RRC / Roman Republican Coinage
(10/1)
HN Italy / Historia Numorum : Italy
(263, p.46)
Haeb / Aes Grave. Das Schwergeld Roms und Mittelitaliens
(4, p.92)
Ghey, Leins & Crawford 2010 / A catalogue of the Roman Republican Coins in the British Museum, with descriptions and chronology based on M.H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (1974)
(10.1.1)
Location
On display
(G68/dc3)
Subjects
anchor
religious object
Acquisition name
Purchased from:
Louis, Duc de Blacas d'Aulps
Previous owner
Previous owner/ex-collection:
Louis, Duc de Blacas d'Aulps
Acquisition date
1867
Department
Coins and Medals
Registration number
R1867,0101.1
Additional IDs
Miscellaneous number:
HSBC.756
(Money Gallery Exhibited)