Central Italy, 5th - 3rd Century BC
Roman Republican Aes Rudes (or Aes Infectum)
Documented hoard found during turn-of-the-century excavations near Gubbio, Umbria.

AES Rude: The First Roman "coin." Unformed cast bronze fragment. These specimens belonged to turn-of-the-century collector involved in excavations of Gubbio in Umbria, central Italy, not far from Perugia. In ancient times the city was called Eugubium, which translates to "Of the Umbri." The mountain above the town is called "Foce" and was the site for hundreds of years of pagan rituals of the Cult of the Umbri and goes back to pre-Etruscan civilizations. "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. Reference: Thurlow-Vecchi p. 15, pl. 2 (as made).

Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 18 mm; 20.9 g. #764: $115 SOLD
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 26 mm; 14.0 g. #772: $60
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 16 mm; 7.0 g. #765: $35
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 43 mm; 37.5 g. #762: $125
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 16 mm; 6.8 g. #763: $45
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 16x10x10 mm; 8.1 g. #774: $55
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 30 mm; 31.1 g. #775: $125

Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 18 mm; 5.9 g. #769: $45

Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 24 mm; 16.3 g. #771: $60
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 27 mm; 12.3 g. #768: $55
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 26 mm; 14.0 g. #772: $60
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 19 mm; 8.3 g. $45
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Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 20 mm; 9.2 g. #767: $55 SOLD
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 17 mm; 3.2 g. #773: $35 SOLD
Roman Republic, 5th-3rd century BC.
Aes Rude. 20 mm; 6.0 g. #766: $45 SOLD


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