Bertolami Fine Art
Auction 44 20 Apr 2018
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Currency bar, so-called Aes Signatum (fragment), Rome, ca. 280-260 BC; AE (g 516; mm 85 x 57); Two chickens feeding; between them, two stars, Rv. Two tridents (or rostra, as Thomsen describes them); between them, two dolphins. Crawford 12/1; ICC 24.
Extremely rare, untouched green patina, about extremely fine.
This currency bar illustrate the Roman practice of divination prior to sea battle via the consumption of grain by sacred chickens. If the birds eat, the gods are happy for the Romans to engage in combat. The most famous incident is the sea battle of Drepana (249 BC) when Claudius Pulcher is said to have been so enraged that the birds wouldn't eat that he cast them into the sea, saying: 'If they won't eat, let them drink!'.
(2000 GBP)
Extremely rare, untouched green patina, about extremely fine.
This currency bar illustrate the Roman practice of divination prior to sea battle via the consumption of grain by sacred chickens. If the birds eat, the gods are happy for the Romans to engage in combat. The most famous incident is the sea battle of Drepana (249 BC) when Claudius Pulcher is said to have been so enraged that the birds wouldn't eat that he cast them into the sea, saying: 'If they won't eat, let them drink!'.
(2000 GBP)