Principal Coins of the Roman Republic
Part 8: RRC 173 to RRC 198 190BC to 170BC, Bronze-only currency period

RRC 173 C.SAX Clovia bronzes. Note the the deck line is interrupted by two dots, symbolising the deck structure, This layout is characteristic of this issue and easily distinguishes it from RRC 180 SAX bronzes.

RRC 174 A.CAE Caecilia bronzes.

RRC 176 PAE Aemilia Paetus bronzes, RRC 177 PT bronzes.

RRC 177 PT bronzes, RRC 178 CINA Cornelia sextans, RRC 179 BAL Naevia As.

RRC 179 BAL Naevia bronzes, RRC 180 variety SIX in place of SAX As. The As type with SIX in place of SAX also has an elongated striated value mark and is somewhat light. Only one die pair is known. It is probably imitative.

RRC 180 SAX Clovia bronzes, RRC 181 caps of dioscuri semis. RRC 180 SAX and RRC 173 C.SAX bronzes are prone to confusion but the issues can easily be distinguished by the form of deck structure. On SAX the deck structure is always raised and table-shaped. On C.SAX there is no raised deck structure, instead the line of the deck is interrupted by two dots, symbolising the deck structure.

RRC 181 caps of dioscuri quadrans, RRC 182 gryphon denarius and bronzes. The gryphon denarius is the only silver issue in the period, roughly dated 190 BC to 170 BC. Dating in the period is very uncertain given the lack of reported bronze hoards, but RRC 182 gryphone is clearly associated by style with RRC 183 wolf and twins and RRC 184 butterfly and vine.

RRC 182 gryphon quadrans, RRC 183 wolf and twins bronzes, RRC 184 butterfly and vine As.

RRC 184 butterfly As, and RRC 184 butterfly and vine bronzes. The first RRC 184 As, at left, is a rare butterfly-only variety, lacking the vine leaf with grapes that the butterfly usually sits on, as seen on the second coin. There are two distinct engraving styles and different manufacturing fabrics of butterfly and vine series. The butterfly-only As and the semis in this tray have small deck structures and narrow solid-fill straight prowstem. The butterfly and vine As and the triens have very wide deck structures, line-bounded curved prowstems, and are struck on smaller and thicker flans. The differences in style and fabric are so great as to suggest two different mints or workshops were operational at the time. These two styles and two fabrics also occur on the wolf and twins series.

RRC 184 butterfly and vine sextans RRC 185 VARO Terentia bronzes. The VAR of VARO is always ligate. On NAC lot 783, VARO As, the mintmark is retrograde; the obverse of that coin is of normal style for the series so it seems to be a mint-made error.

RRC 185 VARO Terentia sextans, RRC 186 MVRENA Licinia bronzes.

RRC 186 MVRENA Licinia sextans, RRC 187 PVR Furia bronzes, RRC 188 OPEIMI Opeimia semis. The OPEIMI semis, with its complex monogram, has an unusual obverse style for any period with Saturn's having a pointed beard, and an unusual style peaked deck structure.

RRC 188 OPEIMI Opeimia sextans, RRC 189 P.BLAS Cornelia bronzes, RRC 190 OPEI Opeimia As.

RRC 190 OPEI Opeimia bronzes, RRC 191 VAL Valeria bronzes.

RRC 191 VAL Valeria bronzes, RRC 192 TA or AT bronzes.

RRC 192 TA or AT bronzes, RRC 193 TVRD Papiria As. The TA sextans is not listed in Crawford. Russo identified the type in Essays Hersh. Several other examples have since come to light. This part of the Ahala collection is particularly rich in sextans denominations. but their frequent appearance on these pages should not deceive: most sextantes and all unciae of this era are very rare.

RRC 193 TVRD Papiria bronzes, RRC 194 Anchor bronzes. The anchor bronzes have a small peaked deck structure.

RRC 194 Anchor bronzes, RRC 195 Ass As. The anchor fractions have, most unusually, the value mark above the prow and the symbol to right, with ROMA below. This transposes the usual arrangement on fractions with a symbol before the prow, where invariably ROMA is above the prow and the value mark below.

RRC 195 Ass bronzes, RRC 196 Star semis, RRC 196R Star triens (not RRC 113). Note, as discussed with RRC 113, Crawford transposed the fractions between RRC 113 and RRC 196, no doubt because of the proliferation of the very common and light weight star-before unofficial imitative quadrantes. The star above fractions belong to RRC 196 and the star above official (not imitative) fractions belong to RRC 113.

RRC 196R Star quadrans, RRC 196 unofficial Star quadrans, RRC 198 Dioscuri denarius, RRC 197-198B As McCabe group K2. The group K2 anonymous As is related in style to series such as RRC 182 gryphon.

RRC 197-198B anonymous As McCabe group K1, As and Triens McCabe group K3 The McCabe group K1 As is related to the wolf and twins or butterfly and vine series. The McCabe group K3 coins are those defined by Crawford as RRC 197-198B, and their style is an amalgam of the styles used for RRC 194 anchor and RRC 196 star, and use the same engraver. They always have a short bulbous prowstem, as per RRC 196, and a peaked deck structure, as per RRC 194.

RRC 197 Victory biga denarius. In the mid 150s BC, silver coinage resumed with two anonymous issues with Victory and biga (this coin) and with dioscuri, RRC 198. The anonymous bronzes are associated by Crawford with both issues, hence their inelegant RRC 197-198B numbering. Crawford places these issues rather precisely in 157-156 BC. I agree that the bronzes, of uniform style and few dies, are a one year issue. The silver is a large issue, but no larger than the one-year signed issues that follow, so I tend to support the one-year-issue hypothesis. On RRC 197, Victory sometimes holds a whip and at other times a goad as on this coin.

Part 1           RRC 1 to RRC 27     300-225BC Early Roman Coinage Part 2         RRC 28 to RRC 43     230-213BC Quadrigatus coinage Part 3         RRC 44 to RRC 66     214-207BC Italy Sardinia Part 4         RRC 67 to RRC 96     212-207BC Sicily Apulia Part 5       RRC 97 to RRC 111     212-207BC Luceria Etruria Part 6     RRC 112 to RRC 138     206-190BC Conquest of Spain Part 7     RRC 139 to RRC 172     190-170BC Macedonian wars Part 8     RRC 173 to RRC 198     170-155BC Bronze-only currency Part 9     RRC 199 to RRC 235     155-137BC Carthage, Greece Part 10   RRC 236 to RRC 279     137-121BC The Gracchi brothers Part 11   RRC 280 to RRC 335     120-93BC Scaurus, rise of Marius Part 12   RRC 336 to RRC 358     92-83BC Social War, rise of Sulla Part 13   RRC 359 to RRC 404     83-70BC Sulla's dominance Part 14   RRC 405 to RRC 439     69-50BC First Triumvirate Part 15   RRC 440 to RRC 462     49-46BC Caesar versus Pompey Part 16   RRC 463 to RRC 482     46-44BC Julius Caesar as Dictator Part 17   RRC 483 to RRC 497     43-41BC Second Triumvirate Part 18   RRC 498 to RRC 515     43-42BC Brutus and Cassius Part 19   RRC 516 to RRC 543     41-32BC Antony versus Octavian Part 20   RRC 544 to RRC 550     35-27BC Actium

Specialist Supplements:
1. Roman Coins of Luceria and Canusium
2. Anonymous Struck Bronze Coins of the Roman Republic
3. Anonymous Roman Republican Denarii and Victoriati (Steve Brinkman's site)