Saturday, May 14, 2016

Overstrikes, Brockages, Die Clashes and other minting errors on Roman Republican Coins

Roman Republican Mint Errors

I recently purchased two bronze RR coins with minting errors. The first is the easiest to see and is an excellent example of a Roman Republican Sextans struck over an AE 16 from Campania, Neapolis; HNI-595. This coin is not a mint "error", but more like re-purposing of a coin struck by another authority. The second is a dot error because a quadrans should have 3 dots and this one has 4 dots on the reverse. I am not sure if the extra dot is because a triens reverse was mated with a quadrans obverse, or an extra dot was added in error. I have looked and not found a die match for the quadrans reverse.



Left coin - I found examples of coins similar to the over and under type on acsearch and posted pics below. finding exact matches is difficult because both coins have several designs


AE-16, Campania, Neapolis, 250-229 BC
Obv - Laureate head of Apollo left,
Rev - Man-faced bull (Achelous?) facing right being crowned by Nike flying right.
HNItaly 595; According to HNI, Neapolis struck coins from about 450 to 225 BC. Bronze issued started about 350 BC and coins of this type were issued in two groups: from 275 to 250 BC and from 250 to 225 BC.  
History Numorum by B Head – Neapolis is covered on pg 38 – 40. He comments that small silver coinage was replaced by bronze coinage in about 340 BC.
SNG ANS 502 (I can not find this coin on the ANS web site and do not have the book.)

2.86 grams, 15 X 17 mm oval, 4 h

Over Type (romanumismatics.com)
Anonymous AE Sextans of reduced weight
Mint – uncertain
Mint date – uncertain, but after 211 BC
Obverse - Head of Mercury right; above, [two pellets].
Reverse - Prow right; above, ROMA; below, two pellets.
Cr. 56/6 or later
Andrew McCabe (essays Russo) – type G or H. On page 176, He mentions a 2.52 gram Sextans overstruck on an Apollo/Man-Headed-Bull bronze coin of Neapolis. 
2.86 grams, 15 X 17 mm, 6 h, Reddish-brown tone. VF.
Overstruck on a Neapolis AE of circa 250-225 BC (as SNG ANS 502) with undertypes fully visible. A rare and very interesting example.


Four Dot Quadrans



Anonynous AE Quadrans, of reduced weight, after 211 BC.
Obverse - Head of Hercules right, wearing lion's skin; behind, three pellets.
Reverse - ROMA. Prow right; below four (sic) pellets.
3.11 grams, 19 mm

Cr. 56/5 var. RR. Apparently unpublished. Brown patina. VF. An anomalous and enigmatic example, with four pellets on reverse.

1 comment:

  1. For the sextans, you want an AE with the bull's head
    in profile and 2 horns projecting forward. To find this, you probably need to consult a numismatic library. Neapolis is a good place to start at.
    By the way, this overstrike is unpublished.

    Dick Schaefer

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