Gouges on Roman republican coins

Denarius, TI CLAUD TI.F AP.N, c.79 BC, Crawford 383, with two distinct gouges, one broad, the other less so, across the horses on the reverse

Examining Roman republican coinage, besides the frequent bankers marks applied during the coins life in circulation, other marks and gouges can be observed. The initial reaction is to dismiss the apparent damage as being from careless use, or strikes while in the ground from spade or plough, but this is not often the case.

In 1993 Clive Stannard published a paper that linked these marks to being done in the mint. The scooped gouges showed signs of catch marks where the tool responsible had juddered in its application. By studying the Cosa hoard and the holdings of various institutions, including the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, the ANS collection and significant private holdings, he concluded that, because of the uniformity of the mark and the judder lines, the marks were deliberately made to adjust, in fact reduce, the weight of the coinage. 

Denarius, C POBLICI Q F, c.80 BC, Crawford 380, with narrow gouge in right reverse field

He then had to consider whether they were made al peso (reduce the individual weight of a specimen) or al marco (to increase the total number of coins made from a defined weight of metal). Through the use of statistical analyses he concluded that the marks were applied to heavier specimens in a batch of production, candidate coins likely picked by hand, to provide silver to remelt to correct the required number of coins produced for a given weight of metal.

This these gouges are referred to Stannard al marco marks.

Stannard, C. "The adjustment al marco of the weight of Roman republican denarii blanks by gouging" in Metallurgy in Numismatics 3 (London, 1993), pp 45-70

Oriuna

I got a "bucket list" coin in late 2024. It's a Carausius antoninianus of the RSR mint with the legend FORTVNA AVG (ex Malcolm Lyne collection).

The coin type, with a female figure in a wreath on the reverse, was the subject of great academic debate in the 18th century when, because of the misreading of the unique silver laureate of the type, it was interpreted as Oriuna on the reverse, the supposed wife of Carausius. All the known specimens, the unique silver laureate and the handful of billon radiates, are all seemingly from the same reverse die.

Maurice Johnson's doubt about the reading of Oriuna

I keep threatening to finish a longer piece about Oriuna and the argument that raged amongst the antiquarians but have so far been thwarted by either lack of time or opening up new rich veins of research. I hopefully will get chance to finish it this next twelve months. In the mean time here's my web page on Oriuna coins:

The Oriuna coins.

Two third century statues as coin types

In the book Monuments of Ancient Rome as Coin Type by P V Hill he speculates that the accusative case, rarely used for coin reverses, suggests that in those instances the reference is to a statue. A note in Zapiski Numizmatyczne XV, 2020, explores that hypothesis.

Julia Domna, AE sestertius, IVNONEM SC, RIC 585b

Taking the examples of the CEREREM and IVNONEM reverses of Julia Domna as a case in point the paper examines wider literary and epigraphical conventions. It concluded that a verb, perhaps posuit (erected), consecravit (consecrated) or dedicavit (dedicated) is unwritten on the coin reverses, but would have been understood, when combined with the accusative. This, the above sestertius of Domna has a representation on the reverse of a statue to Juno, accompanied by a small peacock, although it has been noted that there are versions with the peacock's head to both the left and the right.

Gordian III, AE sestertius, MARTEM PROPVGNATOREM SC, RIC 333

The MARTEM PROPVGNATOREM reverse of Gordian III from his 5th Rome emission (c.243-4 AD) is a further example cited and should be interpreted as Gordian dedicating (etc.) a statue of Mars the defender. The timing of this issue is interesting. It may be associated with the campaign of Gordian in the East that set off in 243 to counter the army of the Sasanid ruler Shapur I. Before setting out on it is documented that Gordian arranged for the doors of the Temple of Janus in Rome to be opened, indicating that the state was at war and, according to legend, when opened the doors of the Temple let forth a deluge of water to protect the citizens from attackers in a last desperate measure. The invocation of Mars the defender, with the dedication of a new statue or shrine at this time, would be appropriate.

Link to the paper:

Awianowicz, B, "CEREREM and IVNONEM. Why the Accusative Case?", Zapiski Numizmatyczne XV, 2020, P. 137-44

A Carausius coin at the Field of the Cloth of Gold

Sir Thomas More

Sir Thomas More, the Tudor politician, was also a coin collector. In 1518 he was corresponding with Bude, complimenting him greatly on his renowned numismatic work, De asse et partibus euis (1514).

In 1520 he was a member of the entourage that travelled with King Henry VIII to the continent in order to attend the Field of the Cloth of Gold. It is recorded that amongst the belongings that he took with him was his coin collection, a not inconsiderable collection of 200 gold coins and 600 silver. That it was a collection and not just a record of the currency he took with him is evident from an anecdote connected to the trip. 

The Peutinger Table focusing on Rome

More met with the German humanist Konrad Peutinger (1465-1547), the emperor Maximilian I’s archaeological advisor and perhaps most well known for his association with the Peutinger Table, a medieval copy, c.1200 of a late antique (5th century?) map of the Roman road network. 

As part of the meeting More offered Peutinger the opportunity to add any coins from his own collection. Peutinger only accepted one coin and the meeting is recorded as a note in his copy of Polydore Vergil’s Anglicae historiae, libri XXVI (1734). He wrote:

“....... there also then was the ambassador of the English King, Thomas More, who showed me 200 gold and 600 silver coins, and wanted that I should take from them what I wanted. But I saw none, which I did not previously have, except a coin of Carausius, which at my request he gave to me in the presence of the Spanish Juan Luis Vives with the inscription IMP CARAVSIVS PF AVG/FELICITAS AVG HSR/ on the one side his portrait/ on the other a ship with men etc.“

The reported mint mark, HSR, could either be a mis-reading of RSR. There is another possibility and that is that it is a slightly blundered die on this early Carausius coin, for example, SRS is a recorded variant for the mark. Furthermore in a later notebook Peutinger corrects the mint mark reading to RSR. 

FELICITA AVG RSR denarius from plate XXIII of William Stukeley's Medallic History of Carausius. The reverse legend is a slightly contracted form compared to the More, Peutinger specimen

The Peutinger collection remained intact for about 170 years, getting dispersed after the demise of his last male heir in 1718. Although we do not know where More’s coin is now, and there are also no known engravings of it, Sam Morehead has included in the new RIC V.5, where it is recorded as RIC (2nd ed’n) 90. Peutinger’s description is taken as being robust enough to justify the inclusion. 

Dr Mead's Allectus indiscretion **updated**

On 16 January 1750, almost exactly 276 years ago, the Reverend William Stukeley wrote to his old friend Maurice Johnson lamenting the gift of the unique Carausius “Oriuna” denarius to King Louis XV of France, as well as a gold aureus of Allectus. The relevant part of the letter is below, reproducing the spelling and punctuation used:

“Dr Mead had 2 gold Allectus’s; more than any body else had. he gave one to the French king. Not content with this indescretion, he sent him an unique silver coyn of Carausius; on the reverse, his wife ORIVNA AUGUSTA, & this without so much as a drawing taken of it.”

Dr Richard Mead was the doctor who attended Queen Anne on her deathbed and was the court physician to King George II until his death in 1754.

I have already posted, in 2022, about the Allectus aureus that was included in the subsequent sale of Mead’s coin collection:

The provenance of an aureus of Allectus in the BM

Is it possible to identify the aureus given to the French king?

Presumably the royal collection is now in the Bibliotheque National in Paris and, assuming it wasn’t previously exchange or sold, it should be found there. Andrew Burnett lists a total of 24 known aurei of Allectus in his 1984 BNJ paper. Of those there are four that are identified as being in the Paris collection but only two, coins 3 and 19 have recorded provenance s that could potentially fit. Both have the reverse of SPES AVG and are the only recorded Allectus aurei with this reverse.

This is where we now have a problem as both of these coins were stolen in the 1831 robbery and are now lost.

We do, however, have a record of both coins in the Monumenta Historica Britannia by Petrie (1848) where they were represented from previous engravings on the plates. These are also reproduced by Burnett an his plate of Allectan aurei. 

Checking Sam Moorhead's recent revision of RIC for Carausius and Allectus draws a blank on which of the two coins it might be the gifted coin to the French king by Mead. Similarly Shiel, Webb and Cohen, although acknowledging the existence of these coins, all fail to identify the Mead provenance of one of them. 

The main difference between the two aurei is in the obverse titles, number 3 being ALLECTVS PF AVG, whereas 19 is IMP C ALLECTVS PF AVG. We must go back to Kennedy's second monograph on Oriuna from 1756 and there, on page 11, we have the answer to the question as to which coin was from Mead. He tells us that the coin reading ALLECTVS PF AVG, coin 3, is the specimen that came from Mead. 

The loss of both known types of SPES AVG aureus of Allectus is a pity and does, indeed, stem from Mead's indiscretion. 

References

Burnett, A, "The coinage of Allectus" BNJ 54 (1984)

Kennedy, J, Further Observations on Carausius (1756)

Moorhead, S, Roman Imperial Coinage V.5 (2025)

Petrie, H, Monumenta Historica Britannia (1848)

Shiel, N, The Episode of Carausius and Allectus (1977)

Webb, P, "The coinage of Allectus" NC 6 (1906)

The largest Henry II coin hoard (until the Tealby hoard)

The Bramham Moor hoard from Withy and Ryall

Some time before 1756 a small hoard of 12 silver pennies were discovered on Bramham Moor (West Yorkshire/North Yorkshire border) that was either deliberately deposited or accidentally lost around 1168-70 AD. They were coins of King Stephen’s successor, Henry II, who arranged for the murder of another Saint, the Archbishop of Canterbury, St Thomas a Beckett, in 1170.

The circumstances of the find are unknown. The coins, however, were engraved (albeit poorly) and published on Plate III of Withy and Ryall, “Twelve Plates of English Silver Coins from the Norman Conquest to Henry VIII inclusive”, 1756.

In 1818 the journal Archaeologia was able to report that it was the largest hoard of Henry II coins known until the huge find of 5,700 at Tealby in Lincolnshire in 1807.

The entry in Archaeologia, 1818

Postumus GERMANICVS MAX V reverse

The Gallic usurper Postumus ceased striking sestertii and double sestertii in the year 263. Unofficial mints continued the production of double sestertii.

Unofficial mints continued the production of double sestertii seemingly until towards the end of Postumus’ rule in 269. The imitations declined in size so much that the radiate bronzes are frequently mis-described as dupondii.

Postumus, double sestertius, "atelier II" mint, PAX AVG

Initially the imitative coins continued the designs used for the official bronze coinage but, through time, additional reverse types entered the repertoire. The majority of the new reverses sought to mimic the reverse types of the official radiate silver coinage of Postumus, for example PAX AVG is frequently encountered.

Gallienus, antoninianus, Trier mint, GERMANICVS MAX V

Occasionally other coins serve as prototypes. During the 250’s Gallienus struck a silver antoninianus at the Trier mint with the reverse of two captives sat beneath a trophy of arms accompanied by the legend GERMANICVS MAX V. The reverse design, including the legend, can be found on this pair of significantly reduced imitative double sestertii of Postumus, perhaps manufactured c.267-8.

Postumus, double sestertii, irregular mint, GERMANICVS MAX V

These two coins quite clearly share the same reverse die, the obverse though, are from different dies. I know of another coin that uses this reverse die and is also an obverse die duplicate with the bottom coin above. It was found in a hoard of Postumus coins from Mericourt-l’Abbe. 

Postumus, imitative double sestertius, Mericourt-l'Abbe hoard

The Mericourt-l'Abbe hoard comprised official, unofficial from “atelier II”, now thought to be a significant unofficial mint complex making (striking and casting) both silver and bronze coins of Postumus located at Chateaubleu, and other irregular coins of uncertain mint location.

Proximity of Mericourt-l'Abbe (yellow 8) to Chateaubleu (Blue 13)

You might speculate that what the die cutters were aiming for was a similar reverse type that did occur in the official large bronze of Postumus, the captives and trophy but with the legend FELICITAS AVG. The fact that they legend used was from a coin of Gallienus may demonstrate that the overall design was more important than accuracy of the accompanying lettering. 

Postumus double sestertius FELICITAS AVG (from de Witte)