Countermarked Aes
Formatum, Dupondius
Latium, 3rd century
BC
I recently added an interesting piece of cast bronze to my
collection of Roman Republican coins, cast bronze money from Central Italy and
Roman scale weights. The marks of value, if that is what they are, are the same
as a 2 As Roman scale weight found in excavations of Pompeii - II. The weight,
559 grams = 280 gr equivalent As, is close to two Roman pounds, 654 grams. Only
a few of the early cast Asses weigh over 280 grams. A description of the piece
and how it fits my collection is below.
Roman Republic / Central Italy – Cast Bronze with Marks
Cast bronze was a form of money before Rome and Central
Italy issued coins. This triangular piece looks like it was broken from a pie
shaped circular ingot. Two marks “II” on this piece could indicate it had a
value of two Asses, or one Dupondius. Some Roman two As (pound or Libra) scale
weights use a similar symbol – II. Two As weights in the British Museum and from
Munich are pictured below. Similar shaped bronze pieces are shown in Garrucci, Table
III. His description is below. Several books show inscriptions on cast bronze.
Some bronze pieces with inscriptions from my collection are shown below.
The vendor’s description:
Aes Premonetale. Countermarked Aes
Formatum (Dupondius), Latium, 3rd century BC.
About one-sixth of a circular
cake-shaped bronze ingot, countermarked II (mark of value) on the flat base.
Vecchi ICC- (cf. p. 25,2: Counterstamped and inscribed aes rude, Central Italy,
7th to 3rd centuries). Of the greatest historical interest and apparently
unpublished. Lovely untouched earthen olive green patina, with lighter spots.
559.0 grams
67x65x31 mm.
Good VF, RRRR
Similar pieces are in some of the Roman / Italian cast
bronze books:
1. ICC, Thurlow & Vecchi; plate 2 shows one
piece of Aes Rude with a crescent mark.
· 2. ICC, Vecchi; On pg. 25 is a paragraph on
Counterstamped and Inscribed Aes Rude, central Italy 7th to 3rd
centuries. Plate 1 shows + and crescent counterstamps.
· 3. Inscribed aes rude or bars are not mentioned by
Grueber, Sydenham, Crawford or Sear.
· 4. Garrucci has pages of sketches of aes rude and
aes signatum. Item #1 on plate LXVII has a crescent and + and weighs 30 grams. Table
III has similar shaped pieces. Translated from pg 3:
o
Assembled are five pieces from the Cere deposit,
because they show the round metallic loaves divided into four parts. The five
pieces weigh:
§
Two pounds and two ounces, 709 grams
§
Two pounds eight ounces, 872 grams
§
Four pounds and eight and a half ounces, 1540
grams
§
Four pounds and three ounces, 1390 grams
§
Four pounds and eight and a half ounces, 1540
grams
· 5. Haeberlin has pages of pictures of aes rude and
aes signatum. Some have letters.
o
T3, #9 – irregular shape with mark: “N”; weight
567.5 gr
o
T4, #5 – irregular piece of plate with mark: “L”
using archaic L, & dot on top; weight 511.92 gr
o
T4, irregular shapes with marks:
§
#6, mark: +
and weight: 50.25 gr
§
#7, mark: +
and Crescent 30.04 gr
§
#8, mark: +
and Crescent 39.50 gr
Aes Rude / bars with
marks clockwise: crescent & +
(centering mark), + (no centering
mark), II
Aes Rude with
crescent and +, note the centering
dot
Picture on left shows
an Aes Rude, 30 grams, with crescent and +
(note the centering dot) from Garrucci Table LXVII. The two aes rude pieces
are shown above.
Aes Signatum fragment
with incuse symbol, C or crescent moon;
22.39 grams; 25.29 X 23.36 X 6.5 mm
Size of three one As
weights compared to 2 As Aes Rude
Picture of 1st
century Roman scale weights from British Museum.
Two LIBRAS, Roman
pound, weight from the Bavarian Archaeological Collection (Munich).
rrdenarius Cast
Bronze Collection, 6/1/2020
|
Weight,
gr
|
Description
|
|
2,532.7
|
large bar
|
|
1,441.9
|
quarter of round cake
|
|
891.4
|
RS bar Art Ast
|
|
853.6
|
RS bar Germany
|
|
254.5
|
RS bar piece
|
|
128.2
|
RS bar piece
|
|
53.9
|
RS (?) bar piece
|
|
743.4
|
Cast bar
|
|
388.2
|
Aes plate piece
|
|
374.6
|
Aes plate piece
|
|
596.9
|
Bar with + and crescent
|
|
557.6
|
Bar with II
|
|
48.4
|
Aes rude with +
|
|
37.7
|
Bar with lines
|
|
220.0
|
Bar piece
|
|
104.8
|
Plate with decorations
|
|
905.0
|
box 1
|
|
1,014.0
|
box 2
|
|
313.4
|
aes rude, flat on 1 side
|
|
11,460.2
|
Total grams
|
|
35.0
|
Equivalent asses
|
|
11.7
|
days pay at 3 asses per day
|
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