Half cut Augustus denarius for a price of pizza i couldn’t resist it

[Aziz]

While i was sightseeing in Madrid i passed by several coin shops, in one of the shops i saw this half cut of Augustus denarius and i thought it’s interesting and cheap so i decided to buy it and share it with you guys, i know it’s a bit common to cut the coins and use them as smaller amount in medieval period but in Roman empire it wasn’t common or something known i believe.

Cheers

Aziz

[Victor_Clark]

I believe that your coin broke in half rather than being cut in half. First, there is more than 1/2...it's more like 2/3. Second, the coin looks brittle; like the metal crystallized. When this happens, coins can easily break.

[Qcumbor]

22 hours ago, Aziz said:

... but in Roman empire it wasn’t common or something known i believe.

It sure was

Q

 

[airhead1983]

From @Qcumbor 😃

Erin

[John Conduitt]

In the medieval period, coins were made to be cut in halves and quarters. They were very thin and had a voided cross on the back to make it very easy. The mint even pre-cut them so that technically they were issuing halfpennies. Roman coins are not marked up and are thicker (at least before the siliqua, which I don't think I've ever seen cut in half, only clipped or broken). So cutting them in half would have been quite a job and not very accurate.

Coins of all eras get broken. The land has been ploughed ever deeper for thousands of years, and it's inevitable that coins get caught up in the machinery. I don't know how you'd tell a cut Roman coin from a broken one unless they did it very carefully, which I can't see happening in a market. But coins were halved for ritual, which may be why bronze coins were purposefully broken and why they didn't worry about getting it quite right.

Hadrian Denarius, 133-135

Rome. Silver, 18mm, 2.11g. Head of Hadrian, laureate, right; HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P. Tellus standing left, holding plough and usually hoe or rake; to right, growing corn; TELLVS STABIL (RIC II.3, 2052). Postwick Hoard 1986-1989.

[Aziz]

10 hours ago, Qcumbor said:

It sure was

Q

 

Interesting how this coins are broken or cut even