Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVII 28 Mar 2019
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Etruria, Populonia AR 20 Asses. 3rd century BC. Diademed Gorgoneion facing; mark of value XX below / Blank. SNG Leake 62; Vecchi, EC, 59.8 (this coin); SNG ANS 78; HN Italy 152. 9.00g, 20mm.
Good Extremely Fine; superbly lustrous metal, lightly toned. An exceptionally beautiful example of the type.
This coin published in I. Vecchi, Etruscan Coinage Part 1 (2013);
Ex Stacks, Bowers & Ponterio, NYINC Auction, 9 January 2015, lot 5 (hammer price: $9000);
Ex Classical Numismatic Group Inc., Triton VI, 14 January 2003, lot 22 (cleaned and conserved since).
The inhabitants of Populonia derived much of their wealth from mining the polymetallic ore deposits in their immediate vicinity around Campiglia Marittima, which contain copper, lead, zinc, iron, silver and tin, thus providing them at a stroke with all of the necessary raw materials to fabricate both bronze and steel, with the rare benefit of silver too. The character of the silver coinage of Populonia directly reflects this mineral melange - it is often quite impure and highly leaded, with the result being that many surviving specimens are somewhat dull in appearance. The present example is a remarkable exception, being of relatively high purity silver, and retains a beautiful lustre.
The second silver Metus group is the most extensive of all Etruscan groups and consists of denominations similar to the first Metus group, but with value marks of exactly the double: 20, 10, 5, 2.5, 1 and possibly a half unit (series 37-111). The average weight of the 20 unit pieces clusters around 8.4g, but enough examples weigh over 8.5g to indicate that their theoretical intended weight may have been a stater of 8.6 grams, close to that of the Corinthian type staters current in southern Italy and Sicily in the early 3rd century.
This denomination is divided by 20 units, presumably Roman libral cast asses, dominant throughout central Italy from the 280s BC, rendering a silver unit of about 0.43g, close to the standard of Rome's earliest 10-as denarii. Although similar in weight standard, they seem only to anticipate the Roman denarius of c. 211 BC, since the chronological evidence from both the Populonia (1939) and Ponte Gini (1986) finds point to a burial date of the first half of the 3rd century BC.
Good Extremely Fine; superbly lustrous metal, lightly toned. An exceptionally beautiful example of the type.
This coin published in I. Vecchi, Etruscan Coinage Part 1 (2013);
Ex Stacks, Bowers & Ponterio, NYINC Auction, 9 January 2015, lot 5 (hammer price: $9000);
Ex Classical Numismatic Group Inc., Triton VI, 14 January 2003, lot 22 (cleaned and conserved since).
The inhabitants of Populonia derived much of their wealth from mining the polymetallic ore deposits in their immediate vicinity around Campiglia Marittima, which contain copper, lead, zinc, iron, silver and tin, thus providing them at a stroke with all of the necessary raw materials to fabricate both bronze and steel, with the rare benefit of silver too. The character of the silver coinage of Populonia directly reflects this mineral melange - it is often quite impure and highly leaded, with the result being that many surviving specimens are somewhat dull in appearance. The present example is a remarkable exception, being of relatively high purity silver, and retains a beautiful lustre.
The second silver Metus group is the most extensive of all Etruscan groups and consists of denominations similar to the first Metus group, but with value marks of exactly the double: 20, 10, 5, 2.5, 1 and possibly a half unit (series 37-111). The average weight of the 20 unit pieces clusters around 8.4g, but enough examples weigh over 8.5g to indicate that their theoretical intended weight may have been a stater of 8.6 grams, close to that of the Corinthian type staters current in southern Italy and Sicily in the early 3rd century.
This denomination is divided by 20 units, presumably Roman libral cast asses, dominant throughout central Italy from the 280s BC, rendering a silver unit of about 0.43g, close to the standard of Rome's earliest 10-as denarii. Although similar in weight standard, they seem only to anticipate the Roman denarius of c. 211 BC, since the chronological evidence from both the Populonia (1939) and Ponte Gini (1986) finds point to a burial date of the first half of the 3rd century BC.