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Fractional bronzes of the Roman Empire (Quadrantes, Semisses & Tesserae)


SimonW

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On 4/30/2023 at 10:07 PM, Coinmaster said:

I found the Van Heesch thesis:

https://www.academia.edu/20381200/Studie_over_de_semis_en_de_quadrans_van_Domitianus_tot_en_met_Antoninus_Pius

And fortunately I own the Woytek books about the Traian coins, but are there any catalogues or other (digital?) overview publications with these coins? 

I believe Van Heesch's thesis is the most comprehensive reference for fractions between Trajan and Antoninus Pius (including the anonymous issues) to this date, certainly much more extensive than RIC. Unfortunately, the plates published on Academia are not very good. I have them in a higher resolution. If you are interested, let me know. I am happy to share them.

I've never checked if Woytek is more complete for fractions minted under Trajan, but that's certainly possible.

 

On 4/30/2023 at 10:07 PM, Coinmaster said:

And a question: are there no hoards with (also) these coin types? If not, what could be the reason?

There have been some at archaeological sites (mostly markets, taverns, etc.). In Van Heesch's article PROVIDING MARKETS WITH SMALL CHANGE IN THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE: ITALY AND GAUL he writes:

... Near the entrance of another building in Pompeii excavated in 1822, a box was found with 35 denarii, 354 sestertii, 188 asses or dupondii and 586 small bronzes or quadrantes. At another site, a tavern, a pot contained 374 asses or dupondii and 1237 quadrantes, ...

But I believe it's rather rare. If you want to hide your savings, it's probably easier to bury a handful of denarii or aurei than a huge load of small change 🙂

Edited by SimonW
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7 hours ago, SimonW said:

If you are interested, let me know. I am happy to share them.

Many thanks, I'll send you a pm.

About the purpose/usage of semis/quadrans, it seems they aren't found in settlements and mainly in the context of military camps. That would indicate they were produced not as small change, but more as tokens or for exchange for a specific item, service of goal. Like entrance to a bath house. See als:

'Consignments of bronze coins
Consignments of coins with specific reverse types, relevant to the recipients and contingents of quadrantes from one emission were apparently sent to a specific area or army camp. Direct shipments of coin consignments were recognized elsewhere too. A remarkable consignment of quadrantes under Domitian warrants special attention. Quadrantes are usually thought to have circulated mainly in Italy during the Julio-Claudian period. However, in the canabae legionis of the castra of the tenth legion Gemina in Nijmegen, 414 quadrantes were found, 304 of which were struck for Domitian. All of the latter coins were of the same type: ric ii² 123 (= ric 436 in the first edition of ric ii), see figure 2. The coins were probably produced in ad 81-82.

In the area of the Rhine limes, these coins were also found in Augst and Vindonissa, Neuss and in smaller numbers in some other Rhine forts. Judging by the quantities, Nijmegen was the hub in the distribution. The coins are found on military sites and did not proliferate to civilian sites, neither rural nor urban. Oddly, type ric ii² 123 is rare in Italy and a consignment of these coins seems to have been produced or earmarked for the legion in the Nijmegen castra. In the provinces Gallia Belgica and Britannia quadrantes were very scarce. From the Sacred Spring in the temple for Sulis Minerva in Bath 12,595 coins were recovered, none of which were quadrantes. Of a total of 143,349 coins in the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) database, 11,443 coins date from the quadrantes production period, ending with Antoninus Pius in ad 161. Only eight of these coins were quadrantes. The large-scale supply of quadrantes by Domitian to Nijmegen is consistent with this emperor’s interest in financial and monetary matters and might have been prompted by the emperor’s presence on the Rhine during the war against the Chatti in ad 83. Opportunistic distribution by nummularii to obtain a profit is very unlikely in view of the unfavourable weight/value ratio of this coinage. Rather, we recognize the expression of a quite sophisticated and detailed monetary policy.'
(source: https://jaarboekvoormuntenpenningkunde.nl/jaarboek/2019/2019a.pdf (page 5-6))
 

I also found this publication about the quadrans of Caligula: https://cora.ucc.ie/server/api/core/bitstreams/a3bf0d9a-4d54-498a-bac4-4468042760b6/content.

And this topic is interesting: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-common-quadrans.373983/.

Plus here are some: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=ERIC - ANONYMOUS COINAGE

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12 hours ago, Coinmaster said:

About the purpose/usage of semis/quadrans, it seems they aren't found in settlements and mainly in the context of military camps. That would indicate they were produced not as small change, but more as tokens or for exchange for a specific item, service of goal. Like entrance to a bath house.

That's an interesting theory. But why would the official roman mint care about a specific item or entrance token to a bath house? Fractions were certainly used in military camps where a lot of small-scale transactions happened. But rather as a normal mean of payment than as tokens for specific items in my opinion. The coin mentioned in the article above (Domitian, RIC II 123) is one of the most common quadrantes under Domitian. I think it's very well possible that the camp in Nijmegen had a shortage of smaller denominations and, thus, got a consignment of what was produced in the roman mint at that time.

But even if they were tokens, they were worth less than an as (the most commonly used of the small denominations) and you would probably not have used them as a store of value (to get back to your original question).

"Small change" may be the wrong term compared to todays small change. An as (= 2 semisses = 4 quadrantes) was still worth about an hourly wage of a common soldier. But these denominations were certainly mostly used for small-scale transactions. Thus, the term.

Edited by SimonW
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16 hours ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

I think Decius' 'semis' is the only Quadrans/Semis I have 🫢.

I've heard the theory that T.D.'s 'Semis' was an experimental reduced As.  The denomination would have been pretty worthless by then. Any theories why this late semis happened?

 

We have discussed Trajan Decius' "Semis" on page 1 of this thread 🙂 Here is what I wrote:

On 8/6/2022 at 10:59 AM, SimonW said:

Regarding the Trajan Decius Semis: I think the point NGC makes is about the radiate coins (Dupondii?) that weigh about the same as the "Asses". You could argue that they are both Asses or both Dupondii. Or they are Asses and Dupondii and the weight simply doesn't matter. Now, the Sestertii weigh about half what the double Sestertii do on average, I would say. So calling all the coins that weigh half a Sestertius "Dupondius" and the smallest denomination "As" or "reduced As" is not completely unlogical. The fact that there haven't been any Semisses for almost a century inbetween adds to that theory.

As a collector of Semisses, however, I still like to believe that they are Semisses 🙂

Here is mine:

Traianus Decius, Semis (3.41 g), Rome, 249-251 AD.
Obv. IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, bust of Traianus Decius, laureate, r., cuirassed. Rev. S – C, Mars, helmeted, in military attire, standing left, resting right hand on shield and holding vertical spear in left hand. RIC 128 (S).
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 64, lot 2703

 

303_lMRKLnY8JK_th.jpg.133b227b901230e9e0323cb0a92b96b6.jpg

 

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1 hour ago, SimonW said:

That's an interesting theory. But why would the official roman mint care about a specific item or entrance token to a bath house? Fractions were certainly used in military camps where a lot of small-scale transactions happened. But rather as a normal mean of payment than as tokens for specific items in my opinion. The coin mentioned in the article above (Domitian, RIC II 123) is one of the most common quadrantes under Domitian. I think it's very well possible that the camp in Nijmegen had a shortage of smaller denominations and, thus, got a consignment of what was produced in the roman mint at that time.

What's interesting is that the use of the quadrants was limited to the military camp(s), while other denominations are being found in rural settlements. This must mean something. What's also interesting is the presence of large amounts of AVAVCIA-coins in early military camps. So what the specific use of these small coins? Possibly this was used both as gambling money and used as money in the camps for small goods and services, but limited to the boundary of the camp. I see a relation to much later 'camp-money', like plantation coins/tokens.

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1 hour ago, SimonW said:

But even if they were tokens, they were worth less than an as (the most commonly used of the small denominations) and you would probably not have used them as a store of value (to get back to your original question).

There are different kind of hoards. One type is a 'savings treasure', that usually contains selected coins with high value, high weight and high silver content. In short: the best coins from circulation. These hoards were hidden just as a way as you would put money in your savings account (for later purposes). Another hoard type is the 'circulation treasure'. These exist of random coins from circulation and contain usually all denominations that where used in circulation at a specific time. These hoards are mainly formed in times of acute danger, like attack on a village. It are these hoards that we learn a lot about coins. So if there are hardly any civilian hoards (villages/towns) with these smaller fractions, than their purpose must have been different than other coin types.

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1 hour ago, Coinmaster said:

What's interesting is that the use of the quadrants was limited to the military camp(s), while other denominations are being found in rural settlements.

I don't think that fractions were limited to military camps, but that they entered the market through military camps (not exclusively). Not because their function was limited to something that was available in military camps, but because soldiers naturally had the biggest need for small change. They didn't produce any goods that they could use for small transactions and, thus, were dependent on small denominations to pay for whatever they bought.

I strongly recommend Van Heesch's article PROVIDING MARKETS WITH SMALL CHANGE IN THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE: ITALY AND GAUL. It's available on Academia:
https://www.academia.edu/es/951078/Providing_Markets_with_Small_Change_in_the_Early_Roman_Empire_Italy_and_Gaul_in_Revue_belge_de_Numismatique_155_2009_p_125_142 

Edited by SimonW
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My Decius Semis is unusually worn and grotty; I'll have to get around to getting a better one.

decius69.jpg.5a85a15ceda87b3eab83c8788a62d6db.jpg

Wow, looking at it, even more grotty than I recalled.

The semis would have been extremely worthless by then, so would a token make more sense in this time period?  I.e. a grain distribution or distribution of some type?

 

Edited by Nerosmyfavorite68
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On 5/3/2023 at 5:56 AM, SimonW said:

I don't think that fractions were limited to military camps, but that they entered the market through military camps (not exclusively). Not because their function was limited to something that was available in military camps, but because soldiers naturally had the biggest need for small change. They didn't produce any goods that they could use for small transactions and, thus, were dependent on small denominations to pay for whatever they bought.

 

The Viminacium asses/dupondii/sestertii are an example of this. However, I don't think they had any semisses?

Couldn't both theories ( regular coinage and token) have merit; regular coinage during some periods and tokens during others?

Even the sestertius would have been pretty worthless by 249.

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This thread has given me a lot of pleasure, reading it in full in one session before getting up. Not only I've seen a number of intriguing coins, but also some very interesting theories about what's what and how this small change was used. 

I have only one real quadrans (I think), and it has not yet been shown in this topic: 

2104quadransClau.jpg.c66a72abff6b891a6f87033c9ba71a6c.jpg

2104. Claudius 41-54, Quadrans, mint Rome. TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG around hand holding scales/ PON M TR P IMP COS DES IT around large SC. Cohen 73. RIC n. 91. 15,5 mm, 1.77 gr. 

And what is called apparently the 'half quadrans' for use in Syria:

3117A400.jpg.c3a1706fb8d8efbb4cd1d4041621cf1c.jpg

3117. AE11 half quadrans Trajan 98-117. Rome Mint for Antiochia Seleucis. Obv. Laureate bust right. Rev. SC in wreath. 11 mm, 1.48 gr. McAlee 526. RPC online around Nr. 3680 (‘chalkous’). 

3118A.jpg.d9645aa3528e1d0aaf1a1c3002486516.jpg

3118. AE10 half quadrans Hadrian 117-138. Rome Mint for Antiochia Seleucis. Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind. Rev. SC over Γ in wreath. 10 mm, 1.02 gr. McAlee 543 (‘V. Rare’, and with E instead of Gamma). RPC online III, nr. 3707 ('chalkous').

 

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Besides, there is the semis. I have one of Hadrian, of the type shown before by @mc9, but again a little different from his three types varying in the legionary standards. 

2206Hadrsemissnm.jpg.22453730f79b6fe159b1a96425662e0f.jpg

2206. Hadrian, AE semis, 119. Obv. Laureated head t.r. HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS P P, Rev. Legionary eagle between two standards. COS III/ SC. 17 mm, 2.74 gr. RIC 689. 

Besides, the semis was used in military atmospheres in Gaul (and Spain), as may be seen by this coin issued by what is called in my description 'Prince Indutilli' of the Remi tribe (who roamed around Reims).

4135Indutillienm.jpg.5d3bda47a534463a79f1e2367229e4db.jpg

Mint master or prince Germanus Indutilli, ca. 10 BC. AE semis (formerly thought to be a quadrans). Rev. portrait of Indutilli, or a deity, with royal diadem. Rev. bull scraping the ground between the words GERMANUS / INDUTILLI L. 16 mm, 2.70 gr. Green patina. / This would be a semis of the Remigian prince Indutilli, with the name of the mint master Germanus, according to Jean-Marc Doyen, Le semis de Germanus Indutilli L. S. Sch. 741.

 

 

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