ANONYMOUS SILVER QUADRIGATUS – JANUS AND JUPITER ISSUE – CHOICE VF ROMAN REPUBLICAN COIN (Inv. 21029)

$1,450.00

21029. ROMAN REPUBLIC. ANONYMOUS. Ca. 225–214/2 BC.
Silver Quadrigatus, 6.59 g, 22 mm. Issue of an uncertain mint, ca. 225–212 BC.
Obv. Laureate head of Janus with curved truncation. Rev. Jupiter, holding scepter and preparing to throw his thunderbolt from galloping quadriga driven by Victory, ROMA in incuse letters on raised tablet below.
Crawford 28/3; Sydenham 64; HN Italy 334.
Ex L. C. Chapman Collection.
Choice VF, perhaps overstruck.

The quadrigatus, named for its depiction of Jupiter driving a four–horse chariot, was the first large–scale Roman coinage struck in silver. Its weight standard was essentially that of the Greek stater used in southern Italy and served as the standard Roman silver denomination from ca. 235 to 214 BC. Severe debasement during the crisis of the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) led to its abandonment and replacement by the denarius in 211 BC.