Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Brutium Punic 3/8th Shekel or is it?



I picked up an unidentified coin at a recent show. It was described as a drachm or hemidrachm. It is 2.5 grams and 15.9 mm with a 12 die axis. The coin looks like a Brutium Punic 3/8th Shekel, but my coin looks to be silver, and looks to be struck over another coin??? The yellow in the pic below is probably due to my camera skills and not a true color.



Brutium Punic 3/8th Shekel, 216 – 211 BC

The following assumes the coin is a fraction of a 3/8th of a shekel issued by Carthage and used in Bruttium during the Rome’s 2nd war with Carthage.

BRUTTIUM, Carthaginian occupation. Circa 216-211 BC. EL (Silver?) 3/8 Shekel
Based on one letter at 12 on obverse, may be struck over another coin???
Obv - Janiform female heads, wearing wreaths of grain
Rev - Zeus, holding thunderbolt in right hand, scepter in left, standing in quadriga right, driven by Nike, who holds reins.
2.5 g
14.7 X 15.9 mm
12 h
F, light gray / yellow tone, well worn or poorly struck. Rare.

Jenkins & Lewis, Carthaginian Gold and Electrum Coins, Group XVI, numbers 487 - 493 (Capua)
   1.  J&L mention 47 coins tabulated by Bahrfeldt in Die romische Goldmunzpragung.
   2.  J&L give % gold for one coin = 27% (somewhere I read, but can not find now, that the %gold            dropped into the teens late in the war)
HN Italy 2013
Grueber – Romano Campanian Coinage, Half Stater, No 145 – 149
Sear Greek Coins, Vol 1 Europe, 287
SNG Copenhagen 357.
Robinson, Punic p. 40 (Capua);
SNG ANS 146 (Capua);

Anyone have any experience with these?

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