Vo/2, No.7 Numismatic Art of Antiquity JUL Y 1988 $1.25 Product of evolution Necessity played key role in Roman coin changes by John Barton Simultaneously, aes grave -- cast Although not geographically re­ bronze coins, circular and weighing as mote from the colonial Greek cities of much as 400 grams -- were made for southern Italy and Sicily. Rome was a Roman use in Campania. These are town of very primitive monetary virtually unique to central Italy; they standards as late as the early Third are true coins, inasmuch as they bear Century B.C .• when those cities and marks of value and were exchanged at towns had for generations been face value rather than by individual striking technically sophisticated, and weight. They seem to have circulated often aesthetically beautiful, coinages. in Rome proper, in contrast to the Before about 300 B.C. the only fonns silver being struck for Rome in of metallic currency used in Rome southern Italy, which was used within were cast bronze tools and imple­ those provinces, and for foreign trade. ments -- barter objects, rather than The Second Punic War virtually currency as such -- and the aes rude, bankrupted Rome, and toward the end unworked ingots of bronze exchanged of that war the Roman treasury was Rome, AE Quadrans by weight. Then a kind of transitional forced to debase the quadrigatus (the 289-245 BC proro-coinage, the aes signatum, made standard didrachm of those years, a brief appearance in the early Third which bore on its reverse an image of Century; this consisted of oblong cast Please turn to page XVI bronze ingots with designs in relief on each side. It was just at this time that Rome Third in series was completing the annexation of the a territory of the Sabines. and adding Umbria and Campania to her domains. Sasanian motifs used in Islamic coinage In 272 Tarentum was betrayed to the Romans and the other Greek coastal by Stepbeo Album somewhat misleading but generally large body of literature, including the cities quickly fell under Roman sway accepted nomenclature for the early two principal studies by Walker and as well. The Romans now found Whereas Byzantine coin types Islamic coinage of Arab-Sasanian type. Gaube.1 themselves in control of cities with characterized the coinage of the M beautiful, internationally respected western portions of the early The so-called M Arab-Sasanian The Sasanian empire had weakened coinages that must have contrasted caliphate, Sasanian motifs fonned the coinage actually comprises several during the long but disastrous reign painfully with the aes signatum of models for the eastern coinage, in the distinct series, of which the main of Khusraw II (591-628), and Rome itself; in 269. therefore, a lands of the former Sasanian empire, series extended from the time of continued to disintegrate during the Roman silver coinage, patterned after corresponding to modem Iraq, Iran, Yazdigerd Ill's death in 31/652 until civil wars of 628-632, which saw no the coins of the Hellenistic cities of and a few areas further to the north 85n04. This coinage has engendered a Italy, was begun. These were struck and east. For this reason, the early Please turn to page XVIII not at Rome, but in the Roman­ Islamic coinage of the east has become dominated cities of southern Italy. known as the Arab-Sasanian coinage, a Miscellanea • .. .. • • Murray opens Segovia office Glenn S. Murray, ocganizer of Project Segovia '92, has announced the farnation of a project headquarters in Segovia. The Segovia project is an international project to resUJ'e the numismatic mint in that historic Spanish city. While the mint does not date to ancient times, a portion of the proposed minting technology museum at Segovia will be dedicated to hammered coins. Those interested in more infonnation about Project Segovia may write 10 Murray at Plaza Maycx, 1; 40001, Segovia, Spain. 1. Sasanian, Yazdigerd III (632-652), AR dirham, Sijistan mint (SK), • ANS accepting 1989 applications year 19. A very typical late Sljistan issue of Yazdigerd III. The American Numismatic Society is now accepting applications fex 10 grants-in-aid for the Society's 1989 Graduate Seminar in Numismatics program. Each grant carries with it a $1,200 stipend made possible through a donation from Mr. and Mrs. Eric P. Newman. The offer is INSIDE restricted to graduate students and juniex faculty members at universities &..r-o ....". in the United States and Canada. Deadline for the applications is March THE CELA TOR: _.0 .. I, 1989. The ANS also awards annually a $3,500 feUowship to a -;,&,g dissertating PhD candidate. as well as the Frances M. Schwartz -~!! Fellowship for wat at !he Society headquaners o Point of View II tl~ • Celator office closed temporarily Book News IV The offICe of The Celmor will be clo'ed from June 21 tbrough July IS, r howeve<, calJs will be received during Ibat period by our friendly People VI answering machine. In the interim. the editor, copy boy, billing clerk. Market VII accountant. and distribution clerk, Wayne G. Sayles, will be participating Dust IX in an archaeological excavation of the ancient fortified harbor at Coin FIle XIV H• II. PbaJasama. Crete. PhaIasama was also the site of a local mint whicb Trivia XIV to produced silver coinage depicting the deity Artemis Diktynna on its Calendar XV • 1l obverse and a ttident on the reverse. Readers may certainly expect a -=i~ repM 00 the results in next month's Celatcx. Classlfleds XXII Prof. Directory XXII ~t ~ .. , '.' . " , ~ . , .. -. -, . · 11 The Celator July 1988 stained glass, and his work was highly somewhere in Kansas his vehicle left acclaimed (see The Cdator. Vol. 2, the road. The result was fatal. No.2, February 1988. People in the The world has lost an inspired news). artist, the numismatic fraternity a Returning to New Hampshire from respected scholar. and a lot of people the Los Angeles C.O.LN. show early have lost a good friend. Anyone who ••• in June, driving a truck loaded with really knew John Banon will miss family furniture, John Barton him greatly - we dedicate this issue to Commental'( by Wayne G. Sayles apparently succumbed to fatigue and his lasting memory. t was at the Spring 1987 Greater New York. show that Operating under the company name I I first met John Barton. Owl, Ltd., John conducted a business Letters to the Editor Still a bit naieve as an editor. buying and selling ancient and I tbought that I had met all of the medieval coins. Along with ancients, Dear Editor: ancient coin dealers in America and he specialized in Transylvanian and prescience of Edward Gibbon, who mused that this guy from the New Russian coins. Of course he would This is just a quick note to tell you and your readers that Olympus Coins wrote over 200 years ago in The Hampshire hills must be pretty low probably deny any knowledge of the Decline an.d Fall of the Roman profile. Well I was right about the above (see The Cefator Vol. 2, No.3, is not dead, but just resting, For a variety of reasons we have not issued a Empire. "The seventh (return of the low profile, but I was probably the March 1988, Letters). At least as stella crinita, in) 1680, was presented only one in the room that didn't know early as 1975, while still living in catalogue for over a year, but hopefully one will appear shortly. to the eyes of an enlightened age ... and John. The situation was very quickly Chicago, he issued The Owl Quarterfy the mathematical science of Bernoulli. remedied. which offered coins and antiquities for I enjoyed your June editorial concerning the Richland Center Newton, and Halley investigated the There always seems to be some sale. Although the MQuarterly" laws of its revolutions. At the eighth people that you never really are in format was abandoned. and the auction of ancients. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend that one. period. in the year 2355, their calcu­ touch wilh. and others that just click location was changed to Henniker, lations may perhaps be verified by the automatically. Although we had no New Hampshire, John continued to However, I share your disappoint­ ments in not finding the ellusive astronomers of some future capital in commonalities in our background. operate the business with an emphasis the Siberian or American wilderness. M odler than a love for the past, John on high quality coins. sestertius of Otho. Perhaps you are not familiar with Roberl M. Cutler and J hit it off right from the stan. Maryland Perhaps it was his compassion for a the (unsubstantiated) numismatic tale fledgling editor, having lived through that Otho, an unselfish visionary, ••••• the experience himself, but more decreed that his sestertli could not be minted until 1500 years after his likely it was our mutual appreciation I've collected ancient coins for only for satyrical humor. death! So, when the time had (nearly) passed. a talented young moneyer two years and have just recently In 1965 John succeeded Harlan Berk subscribed to The Celator. I think at Gold Stella in Chicago as a from Padua named Giovanni da Cavino took up the task. Others followed, The Cefator is a great publication for professional numismatist. Photo­ those of us who "hunger and thirst" graphy was one of his major interests, some of them not even Italian! Now. thanks to them, we can all enjoy the for knowledge in ancient coins and and the photographing of coins his history. specialty. Later, as the editor of thrill of owning a semi-ancient sestertius of Otho.