COIN

A copper-alloy Roman coin. This coin is an example of a rare sub-group of Trajan's aes coinage. They are probably from an eastern mint (often thought to be Antioch, but this is perhaps unnecessarily precise). The reverse, an S C in a laurel wreath, is associated with that mint, as is the bucranium (bulls-head) countermark. The coins are dated to circa 116 when Trajan was resident in Antioch. The denomination is not really known; although radiate and of oricalcum (brass) they are smaller than dupondii. RIC / BMC label them as asses, but they are labelled as semises by Metcalf (W E Metcalf, 'A note of Trajan's aes from Antioch', American Numismatic Society Museum Notes (1977) 22, 67). They may have circulated as semises (half asses) or as half-dupondii / oricalcum asses (the as was normally struck in copper). Many examples of this type have a 'bucranium' (bulls-head) countermark like this one. There are 20 coins of this denomination at Bath, and one of them has the bucranium countermark. Outside of Syria these coins are only common in the N W provinces suggesting that they may have formed part of an official government consignment of coinage from the East (D R Walker, 'The Roman Coins' in B Cunliffe (ed.) The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath, Volume 2, The Finds from the Sacred Springs, Oxford 1988). The degree of wear (often worn flat, as here) suggests that they may have circulated for more than a century after their importation.

Coin references

No coin references available.