| Description: |
Central Italy. 5th to 4th Cent. BC Aes Rude (also called AES Infectum). Irregular,
unformed cast lump of bronze. Measures 65 mm (2-1/2 inches) long, by 55 mm (almost 2-1/4
inch) wide, by 32 mm (1-1/4 inch) thich. Weighs 365 grams (nearly ONE POUND). A whopping
piece of history in bronze! Ref: BMC 1 Aes Rude, Sear RCV 2000 Edition #505 (sim).
Uncleaned, as found in modern-day Umbria. More photographs available upon request. A
little history: "Tradition assigned the institution of the Roman coinage to the
period of the kings Servius Tullus and Numa. Pliny quotes Timaeus of Tauromenium in an
inconsistent and confused account of the establishment of Rome's coinage and called these
lumps of irregular weighing bronzes without official stamp or mark of value as Aes Rude or
Aes Infectum. Fifth century Rome did see the official valuation of bronze at equivalents
of oxen and sheep, when in c. 450 the decemvirs codified the Roman Law in the famous
'Twelve Tablets' which recognized the bronze currency in use in central Italy (i.e., 1000
Asserae= 1 ox, 100 lbs of bronze = 1 ox, 10 Asserae= 1 sheep, etc). A system of barter
with copper objects had long existed in Central Italy where copper was plentiful and
valued while silver was rare and gold nonexistent. The Italic population had produced Aes
Rude from very early times and they are often found in hoards of votive deposits to
divinities of fountains and rivers from the first half of the 1st millennium B.C. down to
the end of the 4th century B.C. often along with Aes Signatum as in the Vulci hoard of
1828 and the Castelfranco hoard in Emilia of 1897. Emilia has produced considerable finds
of Aes Rude which possibly indicates some local production but they have also been found
in Campania, Southern Italy and Sicily. Aes Rude weights are most irregular ranging from 8
g to over 300 g." |
