Coin dies

This paper attempts to trace the distribution of unofficial dies for striking late Republican and early Imperial coins in Moesia and Thrace, discussing eleven dies and one hub (master die). It deals with the key issues concerning these rare numismatic finds , their occurrence in the Balkan provinces of Roman Empire and their interpretation as genuine monetary items or as forgers’ accessories. Such a large concentration of dies is found in a relatively constrained area, but so far understanding does not clearly revealed what their importance is. The problem appears to be essential for the comprehension of Roman political and military activities in the Balkans during the Augustan-Tiberian period, as well as for the general discussion on ancient coin techniques.

[EN] In this paper we introduce a reverse coin die for the Roman Republican denarii of Publius Accoleius Lariscolus (RRC 486/1) which was sold to Antiqua, Inc. by a private collector in Germany. This is not new material since we have discussed this piece in an earlier article; on that occasion, however, the analysis focused on the figure of the monetary magistrate, the iconography of the coin, and the dating of the issue. Now, we will examine the related reverse die in order to provide an explanation for its probable geographical provenance in the Balkans.

Coins were the only ancient artefacts the Count of Caylus failed to collect and he generally negelcted them in his writings. However he pioneered in all the surrondings: ancient coin dies, weights, tokens, forgeries, metal analyses, even Celtic coins which were at that time not taken into much consideration. In this respect, he truly appears as the founder or the pioneer of scientific archaeology.

The short note discusses a Roman provincial series of Skepsis in the Troad, minted under Trajan, which appears to re-use an older die from the Hellenistic period. It is further argued that the bronze coinage of Skepsis continues to be minted until the peace of Apameia.

This paper discusses the possibility that some brockage coins may have been produced deliberately and not accidentally.
Note: this is a draft (expect some typos and errors) and not the final publication which you may find in the Numismatic Chronicle 179, 2019.

Autorul reia discuția asupra datării ștanțelor monetare descoperite în anul 1987 la Sarmizegetusa Regia, pornind de la două monede hibride, care puteau fi bătute cu unele dintre acestea sau cu perechile lor. Cele două piese sunt o dovadă a faptului că ștanțele au fost folosite concomitent, într-un moment ulterior celui în care a fost emis cel mai recent dintre prototipuri (14-37 p.Chr.). Întrucât una dintre monede provine dintr-un tezaur încheiat la începutul domniei lui Traian, perioada de utilizare a matrițelor respective a fost plasată la cumpăna secolelor I-II p.Chr., puțin înainte sau între cele două campanii dacice ale acestui împărat, ceea ce confirmă datarea inițială, bazată pe interpretarea contextului arheologic Abstract: Observations on the dating of the coin dies discovered at Sarmizegetusa Regia. The author resumes the discussion on the dating of the dies discovered in 1987 at Sarmizegetusa Regia, starting from two hybrid coins, which could be struck with some of them or with their pairs. The two coins are a proof that the dies were used at the same time, after the most recent of the prototypes was issued (AD 14-37). Since one of them comes from a hoard dated at the beginning of Trajan's reign, the period of use of these dies was placed at the turn of the I-II centuries, shortly before or between the two Dacian wars, which confirms initial dating, based on the interpretation of the archaeological context.

The count of Caylus (1692-1765) never collected coins and has rarely dealt with them in his monumental Recueil d'antiquités. The central figure of his time for all what concerns antiquarianism, he was well connected with Claude Gros de Boze, Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, Joseph Pellerin  However, he proved to be very innovative and the others. With numismatics as well, Caylus proves to have been very innovative (far more than Winckelmann at the same time), paying little interest for coins but a great and pioneering one for all what is surrounding: coin dies, coins as jewellery, ancient moulds to produce blanks, metal composition (he is among the first to require scientific analyses), lead weights, tesserae, parallels between coins and gems, etc.). Always interested by the history of techniques, Caylus appears here again as a tutelary figure for scientific archaeology.

This technical paper aims to explain the relation we may observe between the ratio "r/o" ("number of reverse dies/number of obverse dies") in the Hellenistic period. Beyond the simple fact that, as a general rule, there are more reverses than obverses (which is easy to explain for technical reasons), there is a strong tendency which links the ratio "r/o" with the weight of the coinage (the data of c. 150 different coinages have been considered). For silver tetradrachms, ratio "r/o" superior to 4 are common, while this is not the case for drachms  and even less for smaller denominations. The same is true for gold and bronze issues. The number of hammerstrikes is likely to explain this general pattern (one for small denominations, several for larger ones).

Ancient Greek dies are lost but we can often restitute the size of the reverses through the study of off-center coins. This paper focuses on the coins of Alexander the Great, Athens, and the mid-second century coinages with a laurel wreath. The general trend is to the increase of diameters of the reverses through the 3rd and 2nd c. BC, up to a maximal size around ca. 150 BC.

In Pythagoras of Samos, Celator 2.0, I refer to Diogenes Laertius, and his claim that Pythagoras introduced weights and measures for "all of Greece."  While Pythagoras did not introduce weights and measures for all of Greece (Hellene), he might have introduced them for Magna Graecia.  This article mentions, but does not show a die/weight for Sybaris, which may be circumstantial evidence for Pythagoras assignment of weights and measures.