The Numismatic Chronicle 171 Offprint - Royal Numismatic Society

104
RICHARD SCHAEFER and ANDREW McCABE
6. Small change issue, non-RRC 113 star-before quadrans (Figs 12, 13)
There exist many more numerous star-before quadrantes which cannot to be assigned
to RRC 113. The examples illustrated in Figs 12, 13 are better than average, but,
compared with both RRC 113 and 196, they show defects.
Fig. 12: Small change quadrans Fig. 13: Small change quadrans
The lettering is erratic, and the prow designs are irregular in several respects, for
example shaky lines occur frequently. There is no convergence into any rostrum
tridens; instead the lines of the lower wales continue and never join. The prow-stem
varies greatly, as does the line to the right of the apotropaic eye. Instead of being
straight, the line is curved on Fig. 12 (and a superfl uous line added higher on the
prow-stem) and is missing in Fig. 13. There is often an extra line (especially clear
in Fig. 13) just above the deck and under the deckhouse. The three dots below are
sometimes irregularly spaced (Fig. 13). Not all these errors, of course, are present
on each coin, but there are enough to reveal that they are not from an offi cial mint.
The obverses tell a different story. Sometimes they are crude, but at other times quite
good (e.g., Fig. 13). But the reverse errors and occasional obverse irregularities on
poorer examples, along with the coins’ light weights, indicate that they are part of
neither RRC 113 nor 196, but a separate group.
We believe that these non-RRC 113 star-before quadrantes form part of the large
volume of lightweight semisses and quadrantes termed unoffi cial imitations and
small change by Crawford in 1982. 6 Some of these issues are rare, but some are quite
common. Crawford did not include these irregular Star quadrantes in his article,
presumably because, not noticing their lightness and inferior style, he followed the
previous classifi cation as noted in the introduction. Crawford provisionally dated this
unoffi cial small change c.100-c.25 BC. The beginning is suggested by the absence
of as and sextans imitations; the end-date refl ects Augustus’ large production of
quadrantes.
Crawford’s main criteria for considering struck bronzes offi cial seem to have been
acceptable style and a range of denominations. Apart from one extraordinary issue of
semis alone, RRC 82/1, the coin evidence indicates that Rome’s policy was to produce
for public use bronze issues containing multiple denominations. After 211 BC, only
a handful of very rare issues comprise only one bronze fractional denomination. If
we take into account discoveries since Crawford’s RRC was published, fewer than
fi ve such issues remain, and these will probably be eliminated in the future. Since
the non-RRC 113 star-before quadrantes are common, lightweight, highly irregular
6 Michael Crawford, ‘Unoffi cial imitations and small change under the Roman Republic’, AIIN 29
(1982), pp. 139-164.