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Control-Marks and the Organization of the Roman Republican Mint

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

M. H. Crawford
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Extract

Rome under the Republic, from its beginnings as a small barbarian community, gradually took over the Greek world. It then transformed itself and its subjects into an Empire of remarkable stability and continuity of institutions. Similarly, the Roman Republican coinage, modelled originally on that of the Greek citystates of S. Italy, became under Augustus the coinage of the Empire. It would be interesting to know to what extent, if at all, the Republican mint anticipated or foreshadowed the ultimately very sophisticated organisation of the Imperial mint and its systematic use of control-marks forming part of the coin-type.

Certainly for the Republic the problems caused by the need to produce an enormous bulk of coinage already existed and a number of issues display series of marks which can be regarded as controls. For instance, the issue of L. Iulius Bursio displays such marks and alone used nearly as many obverse dies as the entire Athenian New Style silver coinage. It would be surprising if the process of striking was not in some way systematised and controlled by the marks, as it was in the case of the Athenian coinage.

Type
Research Article
Information
Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 34 , November 1966 , pp. 18 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 1966

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References

1 E. A. Sydenham, Coinage of the Roman Republic (hereafter referred to as CRR), no. 728.

2 M. Thompson, The New Style silver coinage of Athens, 608–622.

3 Thomsen, R., Early Roman coinage, III, 133–134Google Scholar.

4 CRR, no. 517.

5 M. H. Crawford, NC, 1965, 149–154.

6 Examples are the issues of L. Saturninus (CRR, no. 578) and Piso, Caepio (CRR, no. 603).

7 As in the issue of L. Cassius Caeicianus (CRR, no. 594).

8 CRR, no. 840.

9 CRR, no. 777.

10 CRR, no. 915.

11 CRR, no. 595.

12 CRR, no. 646.

13 CRR, no. 650.

14 The coin is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.

15 CRR, no. 738.

16 C. A. Hersh, NC, 1952, 52.

17 CRR, no. 737, no. 741, no. 736.

18 M. Thompson, R. Thomsen and M. H. Crawford, The Agrinion Hoard.

19 M. H. Crawford, NC, 1964, 143–144.

20 CRR, nos. 757 and 759.

21 VI is on coins in the San Giuliano hoard and Glasgow, XX on a coin in the Vatican Collection.