Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Sale 108 13 Apr 2023
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Anonymous AR Didrachm. Rome, 269-266 BC. Head of Hercules to right, wearing taenia, with club and lion-skin over shoulder / She-wolf standing to right, head to left, suckling the twins Romulus and Remus; ROMANO in exergue. Crawford 20/1; BMCRR Romano-Campanian 28; RSC 8. 7.08g, 21mm, 9h.
Near Extremely Fine; scrape to obverse, beautiful, lustrous metal.
The silver didrachm emerged at some point during the early 3rd century BC, weighing around 6.8g or six scruples, consistent with the weight of a south Italian Greek didrachm.
Crawford dates the type to 269 BC noting that of the four issues of silver didrachms it is the first to bear distinctly Roman imagery. He suggests the portrait of Hercules may be that of Hercules Victor, which would be "highly suitable for a coinage struck from the spoils of war and perhaps reflecting the Roman ideology of military prowess" after the victory against Pyrrhus (RRC p.714).
Near Extremely Fine; scrape to obverse, beautiful, lustrous metal.
The silver didrachm emerged at some point during the early 3rd century BC, weighing around 6.8g or six scruples, consistent with the weight of a south Italian Greek didrachm.
Crawford dates the type to 269 BC noting that of the four issues of silver didrachms it is the first to bear distinctly Roman imagery. He suggests the portrait of Hercules may be that of Hercules Victor, which would be "highly suitable for a coinage struck from the spoils of war and perhaps reflecting the Roman ideology of military prowess" after the victory against Pyrrhus (RRC p.714).