bcuda Posted January 7 · Member Posted January 7 (edited) My interest in the early protomoney, or some call precoin of the Romans came about by accident while I lived in Spain. On almost every Sunday that I could, I would go metal detecting. I would do this for one to get out of the house when my wife would clean everything and for two hopefully to find something. I had a friend that took me under His wing and taught me how to look for places by the lay of the land and how to tell if it was a Celt Iberian, Roman, Moorish or Medieval site. At the end of our day of metal detecting and heading back to the car we would dump out all the scrap metal that we had found that way if we went back to the same spot we would not dig it up again. On one of these occasions my friend saw me dumping out my scrap metal and told me to stop and he proceded to explain I had thrown out a lead Roman sling bullet and a Roman protomoney. I became somewhat interested but did not really get into learning about this precoin stuff until about 30 years later when I saw members of another ancient coin forum posting pictures of them. Recently I have really got the urdge to learn more about this so called precoinage so I decided to share with everyone on this forum my little nitch besides my love of Iberian coins. From what I have been able to learn so far is that before there were coins in Rome the people bartered for items. At first any kind of items were used to barter and then it became a standard to barter in oxen or sheep, soon afterwards rough cast pieces of bronze (AES Rude) were also used to barter as it was easy to transport around and did not die, spoil, or go bad. Not long after the crude bronze had become widely used it started to be formed into shapes (AES Formatum) these included shapes of a cockle shell , acorn, tear drop, heart, knuckle bone, ignots, palmeta and many other froms. In 454 BC Rome passed a law (Tarpeian Law) that replaced the standard of bartering from livestock to certain weight standards of bronze, these actual weight standards of shaped bronze with images on them are known as AES Signatum. Most of the AES Signatum were broken to make change and quite rare to find complete, from this came the AES Grave and the first actual coinage of Rome. My favorite of these is the AES Formatum and the AES Grave although I do not own an AES Grave yet but hope to someday. Here is a picture of an AES Grave for reference. Below are some pieces from my collection that I hope you like. AES Rude 43.18 grams first half of millenium BC to the end of the fourth century BC Aes Formatum 40.7 grams palm tree style 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 24.07 grams palm tree style 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 25.05 grams palm tree style 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 95.07 grams palm tree style 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 52.57 grams knuckle bone style 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 44.42 grams knuckle bone stylr 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 21.15 grams knuckle bone style 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 36.77 grams cockle shell style 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 67.06 grams cockle shell style (Lead) 6th-4th Century BC Ex Ryro collection Aes Formatum 6.97 grams cockle shell 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 10.30 grams acorn style 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 21 grams cockle shell style 6th-4th Century BC Aes Formatum 38.20 grams ignot style 6th-4th Century BC Please post your Pre coinage for everyone to see! Edited January 8 by bcuda update 18 3 1 1 2 Quote
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted January 7 · Member Posted January 7 That's quite a nice array of these important instances of proto money. I quite enjoyed reading about them! 2 1 Quote
Ryro Posted January 9 · Supporter Posted January 9 Beeeeautiful coinage! Man, I can't even imagine how fun those weekends of searching for reminisces from the ancients must have been?! Who knows what you'd find next? Very jealous, but appreciate you sharing the experience. Here's my grave: Not that kind of grave! ROMAN REPUBLIC. Anonymous. AE Aes Grave Triens (92.37 gms), Rome Mint, ca. 225-217 B.C. VERY FINE. Cr-35/3a; TV-53. Obverse: Helmeted head of Minerva left; four pellets (mark of value) below; all set upon raised disk; Reverse: Prow right; four pellets (mark of value) below; all set upon raised disk. A pleasing specimen despite its crudeness, with charming green surfaces. A test cut across Minerva's face is noted for completeness. Ex Stacks & Bowers I always wonder about that line in the middle. It sure looks like someone was planning on splitting this in two... but why didn't they? ROMAN REPUBLIC Aes Formatum. Centuries VI-IV BCE CENTRAL ITALY or LAZIO. Anv .: Element in semicircular shape on one side and serrated on the other./ Ancient Batarang Condition: Very Fine 83.41 gr 56.70 mm Former Ares The AES rude was what first got me excited about Proto-Coinage: In Italy, as with other nations, early trade used a system of barter. Aes rude (Latin: "rough bronze"), used perhaps as early as the early 8th century B.C., was the earliest metal proto-currency in central Italy. In the 5th century B.C., bronze replaced cattle as the primary measure of value in trade. Aes rude are rough lumpy bronze ingots with no marks or design, some are flat and oblong, others are square, while many are irregular and shapeless." And then my heaviest ancient "coin", ancient cake! BRONZE AGE. Proto Money. "Aes Rude" Style Bronze Cake shaped Ingot (2000-400 BC). 261 g, 6 cm. This type of ingots is an intermediate product of prehistoric copper processing in Europe and an early form of currency. It was available both in pure copper and in various mostly natural bronze alloys. The archaeological finds contain both whole cakes in various sizes and pieces. Purchased from Numismatik Naumann Feb 2022 Ain't proto-currency cool?!?! 9 1 1 1 Quote
John Conduitt Posted January 9 · Supporter Posted January 9 It looks like you have the set! I have a few pieces. Aes Rude Irregular Cast Ingot, 500-300BC Central Italy. 66x60x24mm, 377.91g. Toothed Semicircle Aes Formatum, 6th-3rd century BC Central Italy. Bronze, 6cm, 59.12g. Aes Formatum, 6th-3rd Century BC Central Italy. Bronze, 53.39g. Cockleshell. Akragas Trias, 440-430BC Sicily. Cast bronze, 17.5mm, 15.33g. Eagle standing left. Crab. Four pellets (mark of value) on base (CNS I, 1). Olbia Dolphin, 400-300BC Olbia, Thrace. Bronze cast dolphin, 2.49g (SNG BM 360). Cast Aes Grave Sextans, c265BC Italy. Bronze, 33mm, 36.89g. Scallop-shell seen from outside; below, two pellets. Scallop-shell seen from inside (Cr 21/5). 8 4 1 Quote
Alegandron Posted January 9 · Supporter Posted January 9 WOW, @bcuda , you had told me about your metal detecting, but your story spending a full day each week sounds like a fun journey! Great examples. I have several examples of each of thes classifications, but here are examples for them: Early Central Italy coinage (as well as Rome) included Aes Grave, Aes Formatum, Aes Seguntum, and Aes Rude (and others). Aes = Bronze. I imagine As was a derivative of Aes. As (originally weighing 1 Libral Pound) was their main unit name for their currency, composing of 12 Unciae. Later, as they brought in Silver, 10 Asses was a Denarius. AES GRAVE ROMAN Republic Aes Grave Issue, Æ Quadrans, 59.82g Mint of Rome Anonymous issue; ca. 269-242 BCE Obv: dog walking left, three pellets below Rev six-spoked wheel, three pellets between Ref: Cr 24/6a; Thurlow-Vecchi 34 Comments Dark green patina, fine. Ex: from the David Sellwood Collection AES FORMATUM Oscan-Latin Aes Formatum scallop shell with Ribs 4th BCE AES RUDE Italia Aes Rude - bronze ca 5th-4th Century BCE 29.7mm 32.4g roughly an UNCIA 5 3 1 Quote
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