Mommsen’s coin?

This is the only illustration in whole of Über das römische münzwesen von Theodor Mommsen (1850).

And, it’s not even a product of the Roman mint but rather of Luceria (HNItaly 668 = Vecchi 333 = Haberlin 196 no. 2 Pl. 72.16). For good context see Termeer 2019. The iconography is likely borrowed from RRC 15/1, BUT we should bear in mind that earlier the same types were used by Arpi (HNItaly 633 = Yarrow 2021: fig. 3.1). Arpi is very close neighbor of Luceria.

The best known specimen is that in Berlin (below) once owned by Haeberlin, but the letter formations are slightly different (notice the R on the bottom left). It weighs 326.40g, almost exactly a Roman pound.

2 thoughts on “Mommsen’s coin?”

  1. That’s freaking amazing. Obviously, it says many different things that it’s the only illustration in that book; but, and I am sure this is not lost on you, spending so much time in these online databases, but we are living in such a radically different visual environment that we can get our hands on coin images the way we can….Even from where it was to in 2007 when I was doing a die study to grabbing my BNF images this fall for an article…Wow. But Mommsen’s generation will have much sharper eyes, no, in their comparatively image-scare environment?

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