The Numismatic Chronicle 171 Offprint - Royal Numismatic Society

102
RICHARD SCHAEFER and ANDREW McCABE
Fig. 5: Period 1 as
3. Features of proper RRC 196 asses and semisses (Period 2 style)
Consider the same features on RRC 196 asses and semisses (Figs 3, 4 above and Fig.
6 below).
Reverse:
1. Prow-stem is short, fat and curved.
2. The lower wale is always equidistant from the upper wale and the keel, even
when this distance diminishes over the length of the keel.
3. Wales are joined by a line or dots to form a long rostrum tridens, projecting
well past the hull.
4. The A in ROMA is closed, i.e. the bar in the A is horizontal and connected to
both the vertical supports of the letter.
Obverse:
5. Features more irregular and sometimes upwards gazing; faces often appear
amused or surprised.
6. Beards made of long individual strands projecting downwards.
Fig. 6: Period 2 as
4. Features of fractional star-before bronzes – to be reclassifi ed with RRC 113
The particular star-before bronzes which concern us, examined in the same way,
match RRC 113 in every respect (Figs 7, 8 below) 5 .
1. Prow-stem is straight, long and slim.
2. The two close lower wales curve down and converge from left to right toward
keel.
5 No Period 1 sextans is illustrated – BMCRR 413, cited by Crawford, does not seem to have a star
before the prow, and there are no other known examples. Also, no star unciae are known.