Anonymous Roman Republican Denarius, Wreath
Crawford 110/1a
211 to 208 BC
Early Roman Republican coins were issued anonymously, or without initials or a control mark identifying the moneyer who oversaw production of the coin. In about 211 BC, Romans introduced a new series of coins, the denarius. It was worth 10 Asses, and had a mark of value on the obverse to note the value. The earliest series listed in Crawford's Roman Republican Coinage was a large series, Cr 44. The series has 7 different denominations in gold and silver. Cast and struck bronze are not included in the series. All of the denarii of Cr 44 series had 3 equal length visors on Roma's helmet. This coin is from a later series where the visors are of differing length.
This coin was listed as a scarce symbol. Crawford estimated 20 obverse and 25 reverse dies. This makes the coin less common, but hardly rare. Sydenham lists the coin as 4, or scarce. I could not find the cin in Grueber! I did find bronze coins with the wreath symbol in Grueber. When I searched on line, I found only a handful of examples and some on the British Museum web site.
| Country | Roman | ||
| Type or era | Republican | ||
| Coin type | Denarius | ||
| Mint | Uncertain | ||
| Issued by | Wreath | ||
| Issued by | Anonymous | ||
| Title of issuer | |||
| Mint Date | -211 | -211 to -208 | |
| Weight | 3.78 | ||
| Weight - max | 4.60 | ||
| Weight - min | 3.51 | ||
| Weight - avg | 3.886 | ||
| Weight - st dev | 0.307 | ||
| Number | 14 | I looked several times and found only a few examples. | |
| Diameter - max | 19.33 | note the coin is slightly oval | |
| Diameter - min | 17.84 | ||
| Diameter - max | 19.3 | ||
| Diameter - min | 19.0 | ||
| Diameter - avg | 19.075 | ||
| Diameter - st dev | 0.150 | ||
| Metal | Ar | ||
| Serrated | N | ||
| Cr | 110 / 1a | ||
| BMCRR | |||
| Sear: #, VF, EF | 39 - wreath | ||
| RSC: #, VF, EF | Anon 20 mm | ||
| CRR | 278 | ||
| CRI | |||
| NMWar | |||
| NMCr | |||
| Orientation | 8 | ||
| Orientation | |||
| Purchased from | 
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| Purchase date | |||
| Price | |||
| Currency | |||
| Excahange rate | |||
| Grade | VF | ||
| Grade | VF | ||
| Centering | well centered | ||
| Strike | good strike, but high features are either worn, lightly struck or from worn dies. It looks like worn dies to me. | ||
| Flan flaws | none | ||
| Style | normal for coin, the series is dated 211 - 208 BC by Crawford. The helmet style has one long and two short visors that first appeared in Cr53. | ||
| Patination | light uneven patina | ||
| Damage | none | ||
| Obverse | Roma | ||
| Reverse | Dioscuri wreath | ||
| Obverse | Roma with hair flowing in four locks, winged helmet, wearing bead necklace; behind X. The distinguishing feature of this coin is the hair falling in 4 locks and is used to identify the small number of coins without a wreath. | ||
| Reverse | Dioscuri riding R, wreath above, below ROMA in linear frame, A in archaic style. | ||
| Obverse dies | 20 | ||
| Reverse dies | 25 |
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