Nomos AG
obolos 21 2 Jan 2022
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Anonymous, Circa 245-240 BC. Pentonkion (Bronze, 29 mm, 14.69 g, 5 h), struck during the final years of the First Punic War, uncertain mint in Sicily. ROMANO Head of Roma to left, wearing crested Corinthian helmet; uncertain symbol behind neck. Rev. ROMA-[NO] Eagle standing left on thunderbolt, head right and wings open; in left field, short sword. BMC 5 (as Romano-Campanian). Crawford 23/1. HN III 296. Burnett/McCabe (unlisted dies). Kestner -. Sydenham 30. Very rare; green patina. Obverse fields smoothed, otherwise, good very fine.
From a Swiss collection in Geneva, formed since 1970s.
In 2017 Andrew Burnett and Andrew McCabe published their research on this rare type ("An early Roman struck bronze with a helmeted goddess and an eagle," in Essays Cutroni Tusa, 2017). They conclude that: "A small issue of large bronze coins was made by the Romans in Sicily, probably eastern Sicily, on a brief occasion in about 240 BC. [...] The reverse was copied from Ptolemaic coins, and the precise prototype was one of the very large «octobols» with the letter Ε. The normal Ptolemaic obverse was abandoned in favour of a helmeted goddess; as has been argued elsewhere, such a change really only makes sense if the new obverse was intended to be that of the goddess Roma, whose iconography was being developed at this time. That Roma replaced Zeus, and indeed that someone decided to make these «Roman» coins in Sicily in the first place, suggests quite an aggressive policy".
From a Swiss collection in Geneva, formed since 1970s.
In 2017 Andrew Burnett and Andrew McCabe published their research on this rare type ("An early Roman struck bronze with a helmeted goddess and an eagle," in Essays Cutroni Tusa, 2017). They conclude that: "A small issue of large bronze coins was made by the Romans in Sicily, probably eastern Sicily, on a brief occasion in about 240 BC. [...] The reverse was copied from Ptolemaic coins, and the precise prototype was one of the very large «octobols» with the letter Ε. The normal Ptolemaic obverse was abandoned in favour of a helmeted goddess; as has been argued elsewhere, such a change really only makes sense if the new obverse was intended to be that of the goddess Roma, whose iconography was being developed at this time. That Roma replaced Zeus, and indeed that someone decided to make these «Roman» coins in Sicily in the first place, suggests quite an aggressive policy".