Roman Republican Coins
289 BC - 30 BC

The Republic lasted from ~ 509 BC until 27 BC
although there is some debate on the exact date of founding.








Aes Grave: Roma Head
rev: Wheel of 6 spokes
Cast bronze As
dia ~-- mm, wt ~ 276.94 g
269 - 240 B.C.E.

Gorny & Mosch auction 257, 2018, lot# 632
Gorny & Mosch auction 215, 2013, lot# 3

Aes Grave, Thurlow & Vecchi #31, Crawford #24/3, census (1979) 44 specimens. wt range 228.2 - 307.7g, 269-240 BC

"As for our case, that is the denarius with the wheel symbol on the R/, for the sake of completeness we must remember that this appears in the coinage of Etruria, Luceria and Massalia, but it is also known as the wheel is a purely Roman symbol related to the militarysphere, the road system and roads: with caution we could assume the destination of this denarius to exceptional expenses for the construction of one or more viae publicae between the end of the third and the first half of the second century BC."


-- from bertolamifineart
Of course this isn't a denarius but the research behind the Roman wheel design is pertinent.

Aes Grave: Janus Head /Galley Prow
libral standard, Cast bronze As
dia ~63 mm, wt ~ 258 g
225 - 217 B.C.E.
Artemide Aste auction 37,
July 11-12,   2012, lot# 102

Aes Grave As, Thurlow & Vecchi #51, Crawford# 35/1. census (1979) 1198 specimens, wt range 212.3-218 g {possibly a misprint, Crawford gives an avg of 258 gr}, 240 - 225 BC

This is a large leaded bronze coin which was CAST by the Roman Republic just before the 2nd Punic War. They are known as Aes Grave or Heavy Bronze. A Roman pound was originally 273 g and this piece represents a reduction in weight from that. This is the Vecchi (Italian Cast Coinage, 1979, Bradbury K. Thurlow & Italo G. Vecchi, Hardcover) type 51, Janus Head / Prow of Galley with horizontal bar (mark of denomination) obverse.

This is the most common type of Cast Aes Grave with a known population of 1198 pcs (as of 1979) with a further ~600 similar pcs but without the bars of denomination. Recorded weight range for these is 240.3-290 g*

For more info on the weights of these see Historia Numorum  On-Line. For knowledge of these pieces I strongly recommend the "Italian Cast Coinage" book by Thurlow and Vecchi, 1979. It illustrates the different types, weights, when they were made, and lists a table of known specimens thereby giving some guide to relative rarity.

Roman Republican AE Denomination Standards

Based on the Roman Libra = pound of 324 g
Period name
from – to   BC
As contains
As weight g
Crawford #’s
notes
Heavy (Thurlow& Vecchi series label)
289 (Thurlow & Vecchi) / 280 (CW) – ca. 245 (T&V)
1 libra — overweight flans
287–401 (TV 1: 310–401; TV 8: 287–398)
14, 18
Not a separate standard. It is the libral era at its heaviest. No “Regular” era exists between heavy and libral — Cr 19–37 are simply libral.
Libral
289 / 280 – 217
1 libra {=324}
nominal 250–330; observed 207–401
cast at Rome: 14, 18, 19, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 35, 36, 37
Cr 36 = “declining libral,” 207–308 g. Includes the heavy series above.
SemiLibral
217 – 215
½ libra {=162}
nominal 125–170; TV 63 As: 100–163
38, 40/1
Post-SemiLibral
215 – 212
⅓–¼ libra {=108–81}
~70–110; TV 70 As: 41–133
41 (Rome); 43 (Luceria)
Cr 43/1, the 83 g cast As = “Later bronze (Luceria).”
Sextantal
211 – ca. 141
2 unciae = ⅙ libra {=54}
~41–55
from 44
Denarius reform. The fraction is of the libra, not of the As.
Uncial
ca. 141 – 91
1 uncia = 1/12 libra {=27}
~23–32
TBV — bookshelf
As revalued at 16 to the denarius.
SemUncial
91 – ca. 82
½ uncia = 1/24 libra {=13.5}
~11–14
Lex Papiria; CF # TBV
Half the Uncial value — not 1 uncia.
(Later)
after 91 – —
no named standard
—
—
Regular AE at Rome dwindles and stops ca. 82 BC (Sulla). The 40s–30s BC Imperatorial bronzes are separate issues — see note below.

Taken from Crawford, Vol II TBV.

Silver Quadrigatus
Janus Head ca 225 - 212 B.C.

(Numismatic Fine Arts, auction XX, lot# 5, 1989

Roma / Jupiter, the Roman's supreme god, standing in a quadriga which is a 4-horse chariot



wt = 6.685 g These were struck to the Greek standard of a didrachm before the advent of the denarius.

Quadrigatus Historical notes


Tarpia buried by shields

Tarpia Coin notes

Tarpia Historical notes

a denarius serratus

Serratus Coin notes

There is an extremely good article about the Serratii also called the Denarius Serratus, written by Andrea Pancotti and Patrizia Calabria of Bertolami.

The link is gone from their site but not before I saved it in pdf here:

DENARII SERRATA OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC