First Gold Coinage of the Republic
Anonymous. Circa 216 BC. AV Half-Stater (15mm, 3.42 g, 5h). Rome mint. Laureate, Janiform head of Dioscuri / Oath-taking scene: youth kneeling left, head right, holding a pig between two warriors, one Roman and the other representing the Italian allies, standing facing each other, holding spears and touching with their swords a sacrificial pig held by a youth kneeling left; ROMA in exergue. Crawford 28/2; Bahrfeldt 2; Sydenham 70. Good VF, a few light marks and scrapes on reverse. Very rare, only 16 specimens known to Crawford.
Ex Hess-Leu 24 (16 April 1964), lot 261.
This, the first gold coinage of the Roman Republic, was minted at a time of national crisis. In 218 BC Hannibal, the Carthaginian leader in Spain, led his army across the Alps and invaded northern Italy, thus beginning the Second Punic War. The invader won a series of brilliant victories culminating in the disastrous battle of Cannae, in 216 BC, in which the Romans are said to have lost 70,000 men. Gold staters and half staters were struck at this time having as their obverse type a beardless janiform head perhaps representing the Dioscuri, the gods who gave special protection to the Romans on the field of battle. The attractive reverse type shows an oath-taking scene, the clear intention being to strengthen the resolve of Rome's allies in the face of Hannibal's intimidating presence.
