Coinage of

Carthage

Hannibal swearing eternal enmity to Rome

Jacopo Amigoni (1675-1752)

Mike Markowitz Detail, “Shield of Hannibal” Silver

Ancient Numismatic Vandal North Africa, early 6th century
Society of Washington Cabinet des médailles, Paris
 Who Were The Carthaginians?
• Semi%c people, originally from Tyre in Phoenicia
• Language related to Hebrew and Arabic
• Kart hadašt “New City”
• Main dei%es: Ba’al Hammon, Tanit, Eshmuun, Melqarth
• Site of Carthage now a suburb of Tunis
• Empire based on nau%cal trade
• Included Berbers, Celts, Greeks, and others
N

Harbor of Carthage
Where Did They Live?
 When Did They Live?
800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 1

409 263 219 149

814 775 ‐405 ‐241 ‐204 ‐146
507
Legendary Probable Sicilian First 2nd 3rd
Treaty
Founding Founding War Punic Punic Punic
With
of Carthage of Carthage First 308 War War War
Rome
Punic Republic
182? 29 AD
Coins estblished
Death of Augustus
Hannibal Re‐founds
“Kings” (Suffetes) Carthage
How did the money work?
• “…the gold from West African mines was intended primarily for foreign trade and
a financial reserve, and the silver of Spanish or Greek origin was used mainly for
the payment of mercenaries” ‐M. Thompson

• The shekel of Carthage (7.2 grams) was the base of the system of denomina%ons.
A “stater” was ~1 and 1/3 shekel. There were odd frac%ons like 3/8 shekel.

• Sicilian coinage followed the Acc drachma (4.3 grams) standard.

• Gold : Silver ra%o was ~ 12 : 1

• “Electrum” alloy falling from 98% gold early in the 4th century BC to c. 33% in the
2nd Punic War…silver fell to c. 33% in the 1st Punic War and again to 15‐23% in
the Lybian revolts (241‐238 BC).

• silver struck by the Libyans was only 25‐43% but made to look more like silver by
the use of arsenical copper… silver of the 2nd Punic War fell as low as 18% pure. ‐
Howgego
Carthaginian Coinages
• North Africa (“Zeugitana”)
• The Libyan Revolt
• Sicily (“Siculo‐Punic”)
c. 264 Gold hexadrachm (24.75g)
• Barcids in Spain Head of Tanit, l. crowned with grain.
Date palm, doged border.
• Hannibal in Italy NFA Sale 22, 1 June 1989, #230
Second recorded specimen
92 – 100% fine. Est. $75,000

Arguably, the most beauQful Punic coin

North Africa: Gold

Carthage (c.350‐320 B.C.), Gold Stater, 9.41g, 3h. Carthage AV 1/10th Stater. 350‐320 BC. Palm
Head of Tanit facing lel, wearing a wreath with tree with two date‐clusters / Horse's head
three corn‐sprays and a leaf, a triple‐pendant right. Jenkins & Lewis Group III, 138. 0.94g,
earring and a necklace. Rev. Horse standing to 8mm, 12h.
right on ground line, three small pellets in front
of its forefeet (Jenkins & Lewis, Group IIIh, 77 Roma Numisma%cs Ltd Auc%on 2
2 October 2011
The New York Sale XXX ‐ 9 January 2013 Realized: $1,324
Realized: $9,000
North Africa: Electrum

Carthage. Ca. 320‐310 BC. EL quarter‐

Carthage. EL Stater (7.47 gms), ca. 310‐270 B.C.
shekel (13mm, 1.86 gm, 12h). Wreathed
Jenkins‐361. Head of Tanit facing lel wearing triple
head of Tanit lel / Horse standing right.
pendant earring and necklace, hair wreathed with
Jenkins‐Lewis Group XIV, 464‐467. MAA
ears of grain; Reverse: Horse standing right.
76. SNG Copenhagen 350 var. Rare. Good
Very Fine.
Stack's Bowers and Ponterio
Sale 164 ‐ N.Y.I.N.C. Auc%on Heritage World Coin Auc%ons
New York Signature Sale 3021
6 January 2012 6 January 2013
realized: $7,500 Realized: $950
 North Africa: Silver

CARTHAGE. Circa 300‐264 BC. AR Shekel (5.14 gm). Carthage. 200‐146 BC. Serrated Double Shekel, 12.62g.
Wreathed head of Tanit lel, wearing single pendant (12h). Zeugitana, Carthage, c. 149‐146 BC, last issue of
earring / Horse standing right, head reverted; Punic leger Carthage. Obv: Head of Tanit lel. Rx: Horse prancing
"ha" below. MAA 37; SNG Copenhagen 143; Müller 114. right; caduceus above. Visona, SNR 86 (2007), p. 44, no.
Good VF, excep%onal style for 3rd century Carthage. Rare 28 (this coin). Only 6 recorded, two from this die
early issue without palm combina%on, the others being three in BM, Parma, and
another one in private hands. Extremely rare last issue
of Carthage with caduceus symbol. About VF.
Classical Numisma%c Group 67
22 September 2004 Gemini, LLC Auc%on X
13 January 2013
realized: $2,000
realized: $1,600
 North Africa: Billon
Alloy with less than
50% silver

“Billon mul%ples of the shekel began to be minted at Carthage in connec%on with the
invasion of Regulus in 256‐255 BC, sugges%ng both a need for large payments dictated by
a state of emergency in Africa and a growing deteriora%on of the standard of fineness…”
‐‐ Visona (2006)

Circa 264‐241 BC. Billon Dishekel (27mm, 13.46 g). Wreathed Circa 210‐202 BC. Billon 26mm (10.70 gm). Head of
head of Tanit lel / Horse standing right; eight‐pointed star Tanit lel, ear of grain in hair / Horse standing right;
above. MAA 39; SNG Copenhagen 185; Jenkins and Lewis, pl. palm behind. SNG Copenhagen 351; Müller 105. VF,
27, 7; Müller 94. VF, darkly toned with some roughness, some light encrusta%ons.
beger quality silver than usual.
Classical Numisma%c Group Electronic Auc%on 134 Classical Numisma%c Group Electronic Auc%on 112
1 March 2006 Realized:$ 505 13 April 2005 Realized: $290
North Africa: Bronze

Ca.221‐202 B.C. Second Punic War.

Æ30 c.264 BC.; 5.20 g. Head of Tanit AE 30mm. Wreathed head of Tanit l. wearing
single pendant earring and necklace. Rv. Horse
l./Horse head r. Alexandropoulos
standing r., palm tree behind, Punic 'ST' below;
57. Pa%na, EF all in linear circle. SNG Cop.341. Agrac%ve black
pa%na.

Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH Auc%on 133 Stack & Kroisos Collec%ons: 14 January 2008
11 October 2007 Realized $312 Realized: $475
North Africa: Libyan Revolt

Shekel (Billon, 7.32g 1), 241‐238. Head of Libyan Revolt. Circa 241‐238 BC. Æ 2 Shekels (29mm,
Herakles to lel, wearing lion‐skin headdress. 16.27 g, 12h). Head of Herakles lel, wearing lion
Rev. Lion prowling to right; M above, . E.S.G. skin / Bull bucng right; M above, [ΛIBYΩN in
Robinson, A Hoard of Coins of the Libyans, NC exergue]. Carradice & La Niece 141‐57; MAA 66;
1953, 24‐25. SNG Cop. 241. Extremely fine. SNG Copenhagen 244. VF, dark green‐brown pa%na.
Overstruck on Head of Isis/Three grain ears type (cf.
SNG Copenhagen 226‐31). Very rare and excep%onal
Leu Numisma%k AG Auc%on 83 for type.
6 May 2002 Realized: $753
Classical Numisma%c Group Auc%on 87
18 May 2011 Realized $4,500
Sicilia
SYS
‘RK KFR

MTV’

?
RSMLQRT ?
Sicily: Silver
"In spite of their preoccupaQon with trade and commerce
it was only late that theCarthaginians like other SemiQc
peoples, came to use coined money. They learnt to do so
from the Sicilian Greeks, and the first Punic coinage is
that of the individual se[lements, Motya, Panormus, &c.,
in Western Sicily…" ‐‐ E. S. G. Robinson (1938)

Siculo‐Punic. c. 410‐395 BC. Tetradrachm, 16.17g. (4h). Obv: Forepart of bridled horse right, wheat
grain in right field, Nike above holding wreath; doged border. Rx: Palm tree with drooping
branches, small date bunches; legend QRTHDST in Punic legers. Jenkins, SNR 53 (1974), p. 37, no.
20 (O6/R20). SNG Copenhagen 71. SNG Delepierre 716. Good VF.

Gemini, LLC Auc%on X

13 January 2013
realized: 5,250
Sicily: Silver

Siculo‐Punic (c.360 B.C.), Silver Tetradrachm, 17.28g, . Head of Queen Dido facing to lel, wearing
an Asia%c headdress, bound with a palmege‐embroidered band. Rev. Lion walking to lel, its head
facing, behind which is a date‐palm in fruit, the Punic inscrip%on (ShAMMChNT) (the people of
the camp) in the exergue (Jenkins, ‘Coins of Punic Sicily’, Part 3, SNR 56, 1977, 271 N (O84/R225)
(this coin); …extremely fine, of the highest ar%s%c style of the period, extremely rare, a
masterpiece

The New York Sale XXVII 4 January 2012 Realized: $250,000

Another example from the Hunt collec%on realized $200,000 in Triton XV, 3 January 2012
Sicily: Silver

Siculo‐Punic (c.320 B.C.), Silver Tetradrachm, 17.15g, . Head Siculo‐Punic (Time of the First Punic War, c.264‐260
of Tanit‐Persephone facing to lel, wearing a wreath of B.C.), Silver Dekadrachm or 5 Shekels, 37.92g, . Mint
barley, a triple‐pendant earring and a necklace. Rev. Horse of Carthage. Head of Tanit‐Persephone facing to lel,
rearing to right, a palm‐tree in the background (Jenkins, wearing a grain‐wreath and a pendant earring. Rev.
‘Coins of Punic Sicily’, Part 3, SNR 56, 1977, 126 (O42/R114); Pegasos flying to right, Punic legend (B’RST) below
Gulbenkian 363 (these dies); de Luynes 1422 (these dies)). (Jenkins, ‘Coins of Punic Sicily’, Part 4, SNR 57, 1978,
Very agrac%ve style, extremely fine. 435 (OI’/R5), pl. 17 (this coin); From the Palermo
Hoard of 1958
The New York Sale XXVII
4 January 2012 The New York Sale XXVII
realized: $37,500 4 January 2012
realized: $47,500
 Sicily: Bronze

Solous Æ21. Circa 400‐350 BC. Youthful Sicily, Panormos (Ziz), ca. 360‐340 BC,
male head lel, wearing Acc helmet; Nomos, AE, gr. 3,3, mm 16. Male head l.. Rv.
Punic leger before / Horse galloping right; Pegasos flying r., in ex. punic legend “sys”.
kerykeion behind. CNS 9; SNG ANS ‐; SNG Jenkins SNR 50 (1971), tav. 24, 22; CNS I p.
Copenhagen ‐; BMC ‐. 6.87g, 21mm, 2h. 272, 9.
ArtCoins Roma Auc%on 3
Roma Numisma%cs Ltd Auc%on 2 31 May 2011
2 October 2011
realized: $2,493 Realized: $250
Sicily: Small Bronze

Siculo‐Punic. c. 300 BC. AE 17, 2.46g.

Sicily. Motya. c. 409‐397 BC. AE 14, 1.87g. (2h). Obv: Head of Tanit facing lel,
(9h). Obv: Shell. Doged border. Rx: Punic wearing triple ear pendant, and
legend MTV' Crab. Doged border. Calcia% I necklace. Linear border. Rx: Horse
‐. SNG ANS ‐. SNG Morcom ‐. Laffaille Coll. ‐. standing right. Behind, palm tree. Line
Good VF. border. Calcia% II 388, 20. SNG Morcom
Gemini, LLC Auc%on VII 905. Good VF.
9 January 2011 Gemini, LLC Auc%on VII
realized: $1,100 9 January 2011
realized: $410
 Spain

Carthago Nova. Trishekel circa 221‐206, AR

Bri%sh Museum 21.39 g. Laureate head (Melqart or Hannibal)
double shekel of Carthage l., with club over r. shoulder. Rev. Elephant r.
Issued by the Barcid family in Spain De Navasques 458. Villaronga CNAA, 12 (this
From the Mogente Hoard, Valencia, Spain, coin). Burgos 485. Robinson, Essays Ma`ngly,
around 230 BC 6(b). Villaronga‐Benages 552.
Diameter: 25.0 mm Weight: 14.61 g Of the highest rarity, five specimens known
CM 1911‐7‐2‐1 (IGCH 2328)
Numisma%ca Ars Classica Auc%on 66
Perhaps the single most famous and 17 October 2012 Realized $59,248
widely reproduced Carthaginian coin
Spain: Silver

Carthago Nova. Carthaginian occupa%on. Circa

237‐209 BC. AR Shekel (7.28 gm). Bare male c.237‐209 B.C.), Silver Shekel, 7.17g, . Struck at Carthago
head (Hannibal?) lel / Horse right, palm tree Nova. Male head (Hamilcar?) facing to lel, wearing a
behind. MHC 144 (same obverse die); CNH pg. diadem. Rev. Prow of a galley to right, with a shield on its
72, 74; SNG BM Spain 104. Toned, good VF. deck, a dolphin below to right (SNG BM Spain 91;
Rare. Villaronga, MHC 19; E. Robinson, ‘Punic Coins of Spain and
their bearing on the Roman Republican Series’, in Essays in
Roman Coinage presented to Harold Ma`ngly (1956), 49,
4c; Villaronga, CNH p. 64, 10; SNG Copenhagen
Classical Numisma%c Group Mail Bid Sale 63 Supplement 1332). Lightly toned, extremely fine, one of
21 May 2003 Realized: $3,100 the finest known specimens of this very rare coin.

The New York Sale XXVII

4 January 2012 Realized: $60,000
 Spain: Bronze

SPAIN, Punic Spain. Circa 237‐209 BC. Æ Quarter

Unit (13mm, 1.87 g, 12h). Wreathed head of SPAIN, Punic Spain. Circa 237‐209 BC. Æ Unit (28mm,
10.66 g, 12h). Helmeted head of Athena lel; Y below
Tanit lel / Crested Corinthian helmet lel with
chin / Horse standing right; b below. MHC 125; CNH 54;
chin and neck pieces; Phoenician ayin to righ.
SNG BM Spain 51. VF, dark brown pa%na. Struck on a
ACIP 583; SNG BM Spain 67. VF, green pa%na
broad flan.
with faint earthen deposits. Rare.
The references refer to the leger on the obverse as
being a Punic yod, but the leger is only fairly clear on
Classical Numisma%c Group the BM example, where it appears similar to that found
Electronic Auc%on 287 on the present coin. Here the leger appears more like a
26 September 2012 stylized Punic gimel, an inverted nun, or a retrograde
realized: $120 zayin.
Classical Numisma%c Group Auc%on 85
15 September 2010 realized: $370
 Spain: Bronze

Carthago Nova, Punic issues, c.220‐215 BC, AE coins (12), Unit, head of Mars right, rev. palm tree (Burgos 400),
an agrac%ve example, very fine, others (9), head of Tanit lel, rev. horses's head, some with symbol below
(Burgos 394, 395), generally good fine, one or two beger, Half‐Units (2), head of Athena lel, rev. palm tree
(Burgos 409), good fine, head of Tanit lel, rev. horse with palm tree behind (Burgos 392), agrac%ve, very fine

Spink Auc%on 9008

19 March 2009 Realized $244
Italy:

BRUTTIUM, The Breci. Circa 216‐214 BC. Brucum. Time of the Second Punic War, ca.221‐201 B.C.
AV Hemidrachm (2.10 g, 11h). Acc Gold Drachm, ca. 213‐205 B.C. Bearded head of Poseidon l.
Standard. Second Punic War issue. Bearded wearing taenia, trident behind, dolphin below. Rv.
head of Herakles lel, wearing lion's skin Hippocamp r. on which Amphitrite is seated l., holding Eros
headdress; club behind, %ny G (engraver's who stands drawing a bow in extended r. hand; star to r., %ny
signature) below / Nike, holding kentron Γ (engraver's signature) at feet of Eros; BPETTIΩN below.
and reins, driving biga right; serpent below. 4.25 grams. SNG Lloyd 539 (same dies), HN Italy 1951.
Arslan dies 5/8; Scheu G.8; HN Italy 1953; Extremely rare
SNG ANS 15 corr.; SNG Lloyd 540; SNG
Copenhagen 1613; Jameson 404; De Luynes
Stack & Kroisos Collec%ons
653 (all from the same dies). Superb EF. 14 January 2008

realized: $42,500
Classical Numisma%c Group Mail Bid Sale 75
23 May 2007 realized: $6,600
“ArQsQcally, this coin rivals the excepQonal Italian and
Sicilian gold issues produced in the 4th and 3rd centuries.”
 Italy:

BRUTTIUM, Carthaginian occupa%on. Circa 216‐211 BC. EL Capua (?) Frac%on, circa 216‐211, AR 0.82
3/8 Shekel (2.90 g, 12h). Janiform female heads, each g. Head of Artemis l. Rev. Elephant r., with
wearing grain ear wreath / Zeus, holding thunderbolt in right castle on its back; in exergue, one pellet
hand, scepter in lel, standing in quadriga right, driven by and P. E.S.G. Robinson, Coinages of the
Nike, who stands beside him, holding reins. Robinson, Second Punic War, NC 1964, pl. 5, 6 (these
Second pl. V, 3 (Capua); Jenkins & Lewis 487 (Capua); SNG dies). See also NC 1948, pp. 165‐166.
ANS 146 (Capua); HN Italy 2013; SNG Copenhagen 357. EF,
light reddish toning. Among the finest of this difficult issue.
Numisma%ca Ars Classica Auc%on 33
Gorny & Mosch Auc%on 169 6 April 2006 realized: $3,110
12 October 2008
realized: $5,956
Italy

BRUTTIUM. Breci(?). Silver quarter shekel (1.78

gm). By 209‐ca. 205 BC (under Hannibal). Head of Hannibal. AR Half Shekel 215/205 BC, Capua (?).
Demeter or Tanit lel, crowned with grain, wearing Head of Tanit/ Horse, in field sun disk, Punic
pendant earring and necklace / Free horse leger "ayin” below. SNG Cop. 362; Robinson in
standing right on ground line. HN Italy 2020. NC 1964, S. 45, 4. 4.08 g
Extremely fine

South Italian ci%es, including Locri and Tarentum,

have been proposed as the mint site Dr. Busso Peus Nachfolger Auc%on 372
30 October 2002 Realized $296

Freeman & Sear Manhagan Sale II

4 January 2011 Realized: $550
Italy

CAMPANIA, Capua . Circa 216‐211 BC. Æ Biunx

Capua, c. 216‐211 BC, AE, (g 14,02, mm 25, h 11). (12.89 gm). Laureate head of Zeus right; two
Laureate and bearded head of Zeus r.; at l. two stars, Rv. stars behind / Eagle standing right on
kapu (in Oscan characters), Selene driving biga r.; above thunderbolt, head lel; stars below wings. SNG
two stars. HNItaly 488; SNG ANS 206‐207. ANS 204; SNG Copenhagen 330; SNG Morcom
Extraordinary specimen. Very rare. 85; Laffaille ‐; Weber 290 (this coin). Good VF,
green and brown pa%na, surfaces a ligle rough.
Ex Sir Hermann Weber Collec%on, 290.
ArtCoins Roma Auc%on 6
10 December 2012 Realized: $1,163
Classical Numisma%c Group Triton V
15 January 2002 Realized: $260
“Surviving ancient sources about the
Carthaginians written by their bitter
enemies depict them as greedy, cruel,
treacherous, and brutal. The coins
tell us a different story – of a multi-
ethnic society of people who loved
horses and palm trees and
appreciated beauty. We can never
recover the “truth” of what it was like
to live in the ancient world, but
numismatics gives us an array of
objects that speak for themselves, if
we learn how to listen."
Punic mausoleum
Sabrata, Libya
References
Crawford, Michael H. Coinage and Money Under the Roman Republic: Italy and the Mediterranean Economy.
London. 1985

Connell, Robert. The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic. New York.
Random (2010)

Jenkins, G.K. Coins of Punic Sicily. Swiss Numismatic Review, 4 parts: 50 (1971) to 57 (1978)

Jenkins, G. K. and R. B. Lewis. Carthaginian Gold And Electrum Coins (Royal Numismatic So-ciety Special
Publication No. 2.) London. 1963

Lancel, Serge. Carthage: A History. Oxford. Blackwell. (1995)

Miles, Richard. Carthage Must be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization. New York. (2011)

Viola, Mauro. Corpus Nummorum Punicorum, Numismatica Varesi, Rome, (2010) 960 pages

Visonà, Paolo. “Carthaginian Coinage in Perspective,” American Jounal of Numismatics 10 1-27. (1998)

Visonà, Paolo. “A New Wrinkle in the Mid-Carthaginian Silver Series,” Numismatic Chronicle, 166 15-23 (2006)

Warmington, B. H. Carthage. Baltimore. Penguin. 1960