Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 1070. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $420. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SPAIN. Circa 1st century BC - 1st century AD. PB Tessera (43mm, 98.52 gm). Head of Roma right, wearing griffin-crested helmet; TANV*S (TAN ligate) to right / Cupid, holding reins, driving biga of two cavorting dolphins right. Plomos pg. 19, 2. VF, dark color, waxed. Rare. ($500)

SECTION INTRO

SOne of the greatest attractions that Hispania held for the ancient world was its mineral wealth. Gold and silver, copper, tin and lead were abundant and easily accessible in its mountains and river valleys. The early visitors to Spain, the Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians, were generally content to trade with the native tribes for their mineral wealth, but the arrival of the Romans at the end of the 3rd century BC changed the picture radically. They introduced industrial mining, with operations either run by the state or by agents who paid for a license to exploit the wealth. The resulting economic expansion prompted a rapid period of Romanization, with roads, towns, villas, aquaducts and other symbols of Roman life springing up across the country. Many of these towns were "company towns" owned and operated by the mine owners. It is here that these lead tesserae saw their use. Lead is generally obtained as a by-product of silver smelting, and with the precious metal intended for the Roman market, the lead was a handy resource for use as a local small value currency in the towns. Some of these lead tesserae date to the earliest period of Roman occupation, but most saw use in the heyday of private mine operation, the 1st century BC-AD. It appears that by the mid-first century AD, perhaps during the reign of Domitian, the output of the mines of Hispania came under the direct control of the emperor, and the use of local mining tokens came to an end.