Financing the Second Punic War

CNG 111, Lot: 607. Estimate $5000. Sold for $8000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Anonymous. 211-208 BC. AV 60 Asses (14mm, 3.40 g, 8h). Rome mint. Bearded head of Mars right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet; mark of value to left / Eagle standing right on thunderbolt, with wings spread; ROMA below. Crawford 44/2; Bahrfeldt 4a; Sydenham 226; Biaggi 3; RBW 160–1. EF, lustrous, reverse somewhat weakly struck.

Ex Stack’s (10 June 1996), lot 48.

Rome's military successes in the later stages of the Second Punic War, especially the capture and sack of Syracuse, enabled her to undertake a fundamental reform of the coinage in 211 BC. This included the introduction of a series of three small gold denominations valued at 60, 40, and 20 asses. The types were identical in each case: a bearded head of Mars, god of war, on the obverse, and an eagle on thunderbolt (representing Jupiter) on reverse. The issue extended over a period of about three years and Rome seems to have been the principal mint.