The Numismatic Chronicle 171 Offprint - Royal Numismatic Society

ROMAN REPUBLICAN STAR BRONZES, RRC 113 AND 196 99
A Fresh Look at Roman Republican
Star Bronzes, RRC 113 and 196
RICHARD SCHAEFER and ANDREW MCCABE
Abstract. The Star bronzes RRC 113 and 196 are among the most diffi cult to classify in the
Roman Republican series. Crawford dates RRC 113 to 206-195 BC and RRC 196 to 169-158
BC. Although the as and semis denominations are plentiful and easy to classify, their lower
fractions, except the star-before quadrantes, are rare. The traditional dating of fractions with
star above (RRC 113) to 206-195 BC and those with star before (RRC 196) to 169-158 BC is
based on the perception that the plentiful star-before quadrantes are lighter than those with
star above. There are, however, two issues of star-before quadrantes, a rare heavier issue
whose style is close to that of RRC 113, and the much commoner light quadrantes with erratic
design features. The latter seem to form part of the large volume of unoffi cial lightweight
semisses and quadrantes produced after 150 BC. Design elements of the other fractions with
star before are consistently like RRC 113, and those with star above are like RRC 196. Thus
we propose to switch the lighter fractions, associating the star-before fractions with RRC
113 in 206-195 BC and the star-above fractions with RRC 196 in 169-158 BC. Although the
offi cial RRC 113 and RRC 196 lower fractions cannot be distinguished from each other by
weight alone, an analysis of weights shows the unoffi cial quadrantes to be consistently much
lighter than the offi cial issues.
1. Introduction and prior research
The Roman Republican Star bronzes, Crawford 113 and 196, are among the most
diffi cult to classify in the Republican series. Crawford dates RRC 113 to 206-195
BC (hereafter, Period 1) and RRC 196 to 169-158 BC (Period 2). In 1864 Baron
d’Ailly noted that ‘Les nombreuses monnaies qui portent ce symbole [Astre] offrent
une singulière condition : dans les deux métaux, argent et bronze, et dans chaque
valeur diverse, les têtes au droit ont entre elles, sur toutes les espèces, une certaine
conformité dans les traits de la fi gure et dans les agencements, que l’on ne saurait
méconnaître, malgré la variété de talent des artistes qui ont gravé les coins; tandis que
le revers exhibe souvent des dispositions différentes, soit dans la forme du symbole,
soit sur la place qu’il occupe dans le champ.’ The situation is certainly confused by
differences in obverse and reverse style and placement of the star symbol. In this
paper we will try to sort out the confusion.
D’Ailly noted that one style of Star asses and semisses is clearly and consistently
of a higher artistic standard. This style coincides with that of other Period 1 bronzes,
such as those with the rostrum tridens (RRC 114) or bird and rudder (RRC 117B).
These good-style Star asses and semisses, RRC 113/2 and 113/3 (Figs 1, 2) 1 , can
1 Photograph credits. Figs 1, 6, 14, 15, 17: CNG; Figs 2, 12, 16: Andrew McCabe; Figs 3, 4, 5, 7, 8,
9, 10, 11, 13: Roberto Russo.