Wednesday, October 11, 2017

One Roman Pound, 333 gram Roman Bronze Weight with marks

Collections of ancient Roman items tend to grow at irregular rates. At least that has been the case for me. I started collecting scale weights recently as an extension of my interest in cast bronze (pre-money) from Central Italy. My last post showed a weight marked VI = half an As = 6 uncia. Today I "won" a one pound weight in an auction.
The description on this one was short and sweet:

ROMAN. Circa 4th century AD(?). Æ One Libra Weight (53x50mm, 332.92 g). Male bust surrounded by EX B M C S C / Crude engraved “L.” Two flat faces with beveled edge. Intact. Highly interesting and extremely rare with bust and legend.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=346156


A couple of recent purchases that were described in the next post. Top left is a lead weight. Top right is a bronze weight. Below is a lead shell that could have been a scale weight, a votive item or something else.

The one pound (As) weight arrived today! It is the one on the top left. A better pic of the man is below.

Clockwise from top left, center last
  • Bronze 332.4 gram scale weight, Roman, about one pound or one As
    • obverse = EX.BMC.SC, male head
    • reverse = L for one pound (As)
  • Lead 318 gram loom weight (Roman?), this is about a Roman pound or As
  • Bronze 48.6 gram Aes Rude with inscription +, note this is close to two uncia or one sextans
  • Lead 129.5 gram scale weight, Punic (?)
  • Bronze 154.4 gram scale weight, Roman, this is about one Semis or 6 Uncia or half an As 
    • obverse inscription = VNCIAS (top row), VI (bottom row), center dot inside circle
    • reverse = center dot inside circle
  • Lead 59 gram shell, might have been weight, votive item or something else. Many recent auctions call these votive items. This one (and several others) weigh about two uncia or one sextans