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1 As
| Issuer | Uncertain city of Central Italy |
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| Year | 301 BC - 201 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Cast |
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| Obverse description | Facing gorgoneion (Medusa head) rendered in relief at the centre of the flan, depicted en face with stylised archaic features characteristic of Central Italian aes grave production. The visage occupies the majority of the obverse field, with the irregular, thick cast flan exhibiting the pronounced convexity typical of heavy bronze pieces of this series. No legend or border is present. The surface shows ancient patination consistent with the aes grave tradition of the third century BC. |
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| Reverse description | Completely plain and uninscribed reverse field, this piece being uniface by design, with no decorative motifs, legends, or relief elements struck or cast on this side. The broad, irregular flan displays a rough, granular surface texture resulting from the casting process, with natural flow lines and pitting consistent with aes grave coinage of Central Italy. The absence of any reverse type is a defining characteristic of this rare and exceptional piece. |
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| Additional information |
Aes grave coinage of this weight class places this piece among the heaviest bronze cast issues of the pre-denarius Italian monetary tradition. At over 300 grams, it belongs to the earliest phase of the Roman libral standard before systematic weight reductions collapsed the as to a fraction of its original theoretical pound. The issuing authority remains unresolved — Central Italian bronze production of this period involved numerous communities operating semi-independently, and attribution without die links or findspot documentation is genuinely difficult.
Haeberlin's corpus, published in 1910, remains the foundational reference for aes grave despite over a century of subsequent scholarship.