fme_1009166 - ROMAN REPUBLIC - ANONYMOUS Médaille, Reproduction du statère à la tête de Mars, n° 101

ROMAN REPUBLIC - ANONYMOUS

(3rd century BC)

Initially, the bronze coinage is cast. The as, unit of bronze which corresponds to 12 ounces weighs approximately 325 g around 250 BC before the end of the first Punic war (268-241 AC.). This stallion became semi-liberal around 220 BC at the start of the Second Punic War (221-202 AC.), the ace only weighed around 150 g. Smaller divisions, uncia, semuncia, quartuncia are now struck instead of cast. The weight alone is not enough to classify the series, the diameter also comes into play. Quickly between 225 and 200 the standard will go from liberal to sextental, that is to say from 325 g to 54 g in the face of the most serious political and economic crisis that the Republic has known since its foundation. From 213 BC, if the as is still cast, the other divisions from the sextans to the semuncia are struck.