Anonymous. Circa 270 BC. Æ Aes Grave As (66mm, 326.0 g, 12h). Rome mint. Good VF.

CNG Feature Auction 132
Lot: 699. Estimated: $ 5 000

Roman Republican, Bronze, Coin-in-Hand Video

Sold For $ 3 750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

Anonymous. Circa 270 BC. Æ Aes Grave As (66mm, 326.0 g, 12h). Rome mint. Diademed head of Apollo right; | (mark of value) above; all on raised disk / Diademed head of Apollo left; | (mark of value) above; all on raised disk. Crawford 18/1; Sydenham 15; HN Italy 279; ICC 33; Haeberlin pl. 34, 1-10; RBW 20. Beautiful green patina with patches of red, small casting voids. Good VF. Impressive cast in high relief giving a sculptural appearance. Rare.

From the D. K. Collection.

Bronze was, from very early times, the traditional medium of exchange for the peoples of central Italy. Economically and artistically the region was behind when compared with the highly developed monetary systems of the Greek colonies in the south. Initially, the population of this area, including the Romans, made do with irregular lumps of bronze, known as Aes Rude, for their currency requirements. Toward the close of the 4th century BC, they advanced to producing cast bronze bars with designs on both sides. These large and cumbersome pieces are known today by the term Aes Signatum. Later still, probably around 280 BC, cast bronze coinage on circular flans (Aes Grave) was introduced and gradually superseded the bars as the 3rd century progressed, the transition being complete by about the time of the end of the First Punic War (241 BC). Aes Grave was produced in a range of denominations, initially from the As (weighing approximately 324 grams or one Roman pound) down to its twenty-fourth part, the Semuncia. The large Aes Grave issues, commencing circa 225 BC, were on a somewhat reduced standard, with the As weighing in at about 275 grams, although they were still quite massive and likely inconvenient for use in everyday commerce. For convenience introduced a bimetallic system with inclusion of silver and began to circulate silver didrachms known as quadrigati, which also featured the two-faced god Janus, albeit in a more youthful form. As inflation took its toll the Romans replaced the smaller bronze denominations with struck coins, introducing new bronze and silver denominations when they reform circa 212-211 BC.

The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 132 lots will be determined at the live online sale that will be held on 18-19 May 2026.

CNG Feature Auction 132 – Session Three – Lot 588-888 will be held Tuesday morning, 19 May 2026 beginning at 9:00 AM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.

We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.