ROMAN. ANONYMOUS. Time of Trajan and Hadrian. Bronze Quadrans (2.48g). Pannonian mines. Radiate head of Sol right / METAL/PANNONI/CIS, inscribed in three lines. RIC -; BMCRE (Hadrian) 1860; Woytek, NZ 111/112 (2004). This very rare quadrans is quite possibly the finest known example of the issue, with an attractive green patina. VF for the type. Under Trajan and Hadrian, several notable series of bronze quadrantes were issued in the names of the imperial mines in Noricum, Dalmatia, Pannonia and Moesia (Dardania). These mining operations supplied metal to the Rome mint and may also have housed auxiliary workshops producing coinage for local use or for distribution as donatives. An alternative view holds that the series was in fact struck at Rome itself, fulfilling some now-unknown special purpose, somewhat akin to the contemporary nome coinage of Alexandria in Egypt. In any case, the quadrantes appear to have circulated only on a limited scale, and, apart from one very rare type struck under Marcus Aurelius, they were not produced outside this specific Trajanic and Hadrianic context. From the David Allan Collection; previously from the David Tong Collection; acquired from CNG Auction 55 (13 September 2000), lot 1225. (P)

Estimate: AUD 500