“Rediscovery” of the Carbonara 1903 hoard

Translation with minor corrections and addenda by the authors of the original 2016 publication in
Italian ;
P. Debernardi & M. Passehl, La “riscoperta” del tesoretto di “Carbonara 1903” 1a

When in March 2014 I visited the MARTA (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto), the
curator of the Coin Cabinet, Giuseppe Libero Mangieri, submitted to my attention a substantial
hoard of Roman Republican silver : 363 coins, 36 quinarii and 327 denarii, the latest from the 48
BC issue of C. Vibius Pansa (RRC 449).1 Unfortunately it was unaccompanied by any record of
provenance. Since it is the Museum's practice to carefully register every artifact received, it may be
presumed that the documentation for these coins had been lost during the convulsive events of the
last World War, which certainly resulted in other episodes of partial loss of documentation.2
A survey of published hoards buried around the same time as this undocumented material
naturally involved considering its relationship to the Carbonara 1903 hoard, also located at the same
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto according to Crawford (RRCH 362). Despite the smaller
size of the undocumented group, detailed comparison with the meticulous catalogue published by
Quintino Quagliati in 1904,3 led to the conclusion that these 363 coins are all that remains of
Carbonara 1903 after the vicissitudes of the war.
As Quagliati reported, the hoard in question was found in August 1903 by Michelangelo Coletta
in the town of Carbonara (district of Bari today), during excavations for the foundations of his
house. It consisted of at least 450 Roman Republican silver coins which in November of the same
year were illegally sold to an antique dealer of Taranto. From the latter the judicial authorities
recovered 426 specimens, which were delivered to the local Archaeological Museum and then first
published in the Quagliati edition, which remains the basis for subsequent studies of the hoard.
Of the 426 coins, 383 were denarii and 43 quinarii, from which 363 coins remain today : 327
denarii and 36 quinarii. Therefore 63 coins remain untraceable : 56 denarii and 7 quinarii. It is
necessary to give detailed consideration to the pieces missing from Quagliati's publication and the
differences (mostly minor) between his catalogue and the numismatic material published with this
note. [this refers to the vetrina catalogue for Notiziario PNS 8, see n. 1a]
To address this question it is useful to refer to the following table (Tab. 1), which presents the
sequence number of types in Quagliati's catalogue (Qn.), brief identification features of each type
(usually the legend), the denomination, the classifications in Babelon, Description and Crawford
RRC, the number of specimens per type according to Quintino Quagliati (QQ) and remaining today
(PD), finally the enumeration of the latter in the present, photographic, catalogue (Photo Cat).
Inconsistencies in Quagliati's record of the Babelon classification appear in red letters, while the
Qn. types entirely lost are highlighted in gray, those partially missing in light pink, and in dark pink
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those lacking only one specimen, a fact recorded in pencil, probably by the author himself, in the
copy of the Quagliati 1904 article in the library of the SAP (Soprintendenza Archeologia della
Puglia). To assist the reader the lines (types) are differentiated by colours : white for correlation,
pink for discordance, gray for complete loss.

Tab. 1. Comparison of Quagliati's catalogue of the Carbonara 1903 hoard with present remains

Qn. Type Dn Babelon R RRC QQ PD Photo Cat

1 unsigned Dioscuri D anon 2 44/5 ; 53/2 ; 68/1b 6 6 1-3, 6-8
167/1 ; 182/1; 198/1
2 ToD D anon 35 141/1 1 1 4
3 unsigned Stags biga D anon 101 222/1 1 1 16
4 M ·A·C ·I ·L· I·V· S· M ·F · D Acilia 4 255/1 1 1 29
5 unsigned Roma seated on shields D anon 176 287/1 1 1 49
6 unsigned type of GAR OGVL VER D anon 226 350A/2 6 6 184-189
7 unsigned Apollo head quinarius Q anon 227 373/1 1 1 229
8 C·ABVRI – GEM D Aburia 1 244/1 1 1 23
9 M ·ABVRI – GEM D Aburia 6 250/1 2 2 25-26
10 M/·ACILIVS III·VIR D Acilia 8 442/1 30 29 317-345
11 P ·PAETVS D Aelia 3 233/1 1 1 18
12 M/·AEMILIO L-E-P D Aemilia 7 291/1 4 4 52-55
13 M ·LEPIDVS D Aemilia 21 419/1b 1 1 285
14 M ·SCAVR AED·CVR D Aemilia 8 422/1 6 6 289-294
15 PAVLLVS·LEPIDVS – PAVLLVS TER D Aemilia 10 415/1 7 7 272-278
16 SAFRA D Afrania 1 206/1 1 1 13
17 C·ANNI·T·F·T·N PROCOS – L·FABI·L·F·HISP Q D Annia 2 366/1b 3 3 219-221
18 C·ANNI·T·F·T·N PROCOS – L·FABI·L·F·HISP Q D Annia 4 366/3b 1 0
19 L·ANTES – GRAG D Antestia 9 238/1 1 0
20 Q ·ANTO ·BALB PR D Antonia 1 364/1 5 0
21 L·SATVRN D Appuleia 1 317/3 3 0
22 M/·AQVIL D Aquillia 2 303/1 2 0
23 AN RVF D Aurelia 19 221/1 1 1 15
24 TAMP D Baebia 3 133/1 1 0
25 M ·BAEBI·Q·F – TAMPIL (retrograde) D Baebia 12 236/1 4 0
26 C·METELLVS D Caecilia 14 269/1 1 0
27 Q ·ME TE D Caecilia 21 256/1 1 0
28 L·METEL A·ALB·S·F C·MALL D Caecilia 45 335/1 1 0
29 Q ·C·M ·P·I below elephant D Caecilia 43 374/1 2 0
30 IMPER below jug and lituus D Caecilia 44 374/2 2 0
31 L·PISO FRVGI D Calpurnia 11 340/1 9 9 103-111
32 C·PISO·L·F·FRVGI D Calpurnia 24 408/1 7 1 260
33 L·CASSI CAEICIAN D Cassia 4 321/1 1 0
34 Q ·CASSIVS D Cassia 7 428/3 2 0
35 Q ·CASSIVS D Cassia 8 428/2 1 0
36 Q ·CASSIVS D Cassia 9 428/1 1 0
37 LONGINIIIV & control-letters resolving LCASSI D Cassia 10 413/1 5 0
38 M ·CIPI·M·F D Cipia 1 289/1 4 1 50
39 C·PVLCHER D Claudia 1 300/1 1 0
40 AP·CL·T·MAL·Q·VR D Claudia 2 299/1a 1 0
41 T·CLOVLI Q Q Cloulia 2 332/1 5 0
42 C·COIL CALD D Coelia 2 318/1a 2 0
43 CALD D Coelia 3 318/1b 1 0
44 P·SVLA D Cornelia 1 205/1 1 0
45 CN·BLASIO·CN·F D Cornelia 19 296/1 3 0
46 LENT·MAR·F D Cornelia 25 329/1a 2 2 79-80
47 L·SVLLA – IMPER ITERVM D Cornelia 29 359/1 1 1 208
48 CN·LENTVL D Cornelia 50 345/1 7 7 146-152
49 CN·LENT Q Cornelia 51 345/2 9 9 153-161
50 CN·LEN·Q – G·P·R D Cornelia 54 393/1a 4 4 251-254
51 FAVSTVS – FELIX D Cornelia 59 426/1 1 1 302
52 P·CREPVSI D Crepusia 1 361/1 6 6 210-215
53 M ·FAN·L·CRIT – AED·PL D Critonia 1 351/1 1 1 190
54 C·EG NAT VLEI·C·F·Q Q Egnatuleia 1 333/1 11 9 84-92
55 Q ·FABI – LABEO D Fabia 1 273/1 3 3 34-36
56 M ·FAN·C·F D Fannia 1 275/1 1 1 38
57 L·FARSVLEI – MENSOR D Farsuleia 1 392/1a 1 1 249
58 L·FARSVLEI – MENSOR D Farsuleia 2 392/1b 1 1 250
59 L·FLAMINI CILO D Flaminia 1 302/1 5 5 61-65
60 C·FONT D Fonteia 1 290/1 1 1 51
61 M/·FONTEI C·F· D Fonteia 10 353/1c 3 3 198-200
62 P·FONTEIVS·P·F CAPITO·III·VIR D Fonteia 17 429/1 2 2 303-304
63 KALENI – CORDI D Fufia 1 403/1 1 1 256
64 CNFOVL M·CAL·Q·MET D Fulvia 1 284/1b 1 1 46
65 M ·FOVRI·L·F – PHILI D Furia 18 281/1 2 2 43-44
66 L·FVRI CN·F – BROCCHI III VIR D Furia 23 414/1 1 1 271
67 GAR OGVL·VER D Gargilia 1 350A/1a 1 1 183
68 M ·HERENNI D Herennia 1 308/1 1 1 68
69 C·HOSIDI·C·F – GETA III·VIR D Hosidia 1 407/2 1 1 259
70 L·HOSTILIVS SASERNA D Hostilia 2 448/2 4 4 357-360
71 L·HOSTILIVS SASERNA D Hostilia 4 448/3 1 1 361
72 L·HOSTILIVS SASERNA D Hostilia 5 448/1 4 4 353-356
73 L·IVLI·BVRSIO D Iulia 5 352/1 7 7 191-197
74 CAESAR D Iulia 9 443/1 6 5 346-350
75 D ·SILANVS·L·F D Iunia 15 337/3 6 6 97-102
76 D ·SILANVS·L·F D Iunia 18 337/2 1 1 96
77 BRVTVS – LIBERTAS D Iunia 30 433/1 2 2 309-310
78 BRVTVS – AHALA D Iunia 31 433/2 2 2 311-312
79 C·LICINIVS·L·F MACER D Licinia 16 354/1 5 5 201-205
80 M ·LVCILI RVF D Lucilia 1 324/1 1 1 75
81 CN·LVCR – TRIO D Lucretia 1 237/1 1 1 19
82 L·LVCRETI TRIO D Lucretia 2 390/1 1 1 247
83 L·LVCRETI TRIO D Lucretia 3 390/2 1 1 248
84 P ·ME ANT (or MENAT) D Maenia 7 249/1 1 1 24
85 C·MAIANI D Maiania 1 203/1 1 1 11
86 T·MAL·AP·CL·Q·VR D Mallia 2 299/1b 3 3 58-60
87 C·MAMIL LIMETAN D Mamilia 6 362/1 1 1 216
88 A·MA NL I·Q ·F – SER D Manlia 1 309/1 1 1 69
89 L·TORQVA Q D Manlia 2 295/1 1 1 56
90 L·SVLLA·IMP – L·MANLI PRO Q D Manlia 3 367/5 4 4 222-225
91 Q ·PILIPVS D Marcia 11 259/1 1 1 30
92 C·CENSO D Marcia 18 346/1 2 2 162-163
93 C·CENSORI D Marcia 19 346/2 1 1 164
94 L·CENSOR D Marcia 24 363/1 2 2 217-218
95 L·CENSORIN – P·CREPVSI C·LIMETAN D Marcia 27 360/1 1 1 209
96 PHILIPPVS D Marcia 28 425/1 6 6 296-301
97 C·MARI·C·F·CAPIT D Maria 7+9 378/1 3 3 230-232
98 MAT D Matiena 2 162/2 1 1 5
99 L·C·MEMIES·L·F GAL D Memmia 8 349/1 1 1 182
100 TI·MINVCI·C·F AVGVRINI D Minucia 9 243/1 1 1 22
101 Q ·THERM·MF D Minucia 19 319/1 3 3 72-74
102 C·NAE·BALB D Naevia 6 382/1 1 1 237
103 SEX·NONI · PR · L · V · P · F · – SVFENAS D Nonia 1 421/1 1 1 288
104 C·NORBANVS D Norbana 1 357/1a 1 1 206
105 C·NORBANVS D Norbana 2 357/1b 1 1 207
106 L·OPEIMI D Opimia 12 253/1 1 1 28
107 L·PAPI D Papia 1 384/1 2 2 238-239
108 CARB D Papiria 7 279/1 1 1 40
109 M ·PLAETORIVS AED CVR – CESTIANVS D Plaetoria 4 409/1 4 4 261-264
110 CN ·PLANCIVS AED·CVR D Plancia 1 432/1 3 3 306-308
111 P ·YPSAE D Plautia 12 420/1 2 2 286-287
112 A·PLAVTIVS AED·CVR D Plautia 13 431/1 1 1 305
113 C·MALLE·C·F – L·LIC·CN·DOM D Poblicia 1 282/3 1 1 45
114 C·MAL D Poblicia 6 335/3d 1 1 93
115 Q ·POMPEI RVF D Pompeia 5 434/2 3 3 313-315
116 Q ·POMPONI MVSA D Pomponia 22 410/8 1 1 265
117 C·CATO D Porcia 1 274/1 1 1 37
118 M ·PORC – LAECA D Porcia 3 270/1 2 2 32-33
119 M ·CATO D Porcia 5 343/1 2 2 127-128
120 M ·CATO Q Porcia 7 343/2 8 8 129-136
121 L·POST ·ALB D Postumia 1 252/1 1 1 27
122 A·ALBINVS S·F D Postumia 4 335/9 1 1 94
123 A·ALBINVS S·F D Postumia 5 335/10a 1 1 95
124 A·POST·A·F·S·N·ALBIN D Postumia 8 372/2 3 3 226-228
125 C·POSTVMI AT D Postumia 9 394/1a 1 1 255
126 L·PROCILI F D Procilia 1 379/1 2 2 233-234
127 L·PROCILI·F D Procilia 2 379/2 2 2 235-236
128 T (shield) Q D Quintia 2 267/1 1 1 31
129 TI (mus) Q D Quintia 6 297/1 1 1 57
130 C·RENI D Renia 1 231/1 1 1 17
131 LROSCI – FABATI D Roscia 1 412/1 5 5 266-270
132 L·RVBRI – DOSSEN D Rubria 1 348/1 11 10 165-174
133 L·RVBRI – DOS D Rubria 2 348/2 3 3 175-177
134 L·RVBRI – DOS D Rubria 3 348/3 1 1 178
135 L·RVBRI – DOS SEN Q Rubria 4 348/4 3 3 179-181
136 L·RVSTI D Rustia 1 389/1 1 1 246
137 L·RVTILI – FLAC D Rutilia 1 387/1 2 2 244-245
138 L·SAVF D Saufeia 1 204/1 1 1 12
139 C·SCR D Scribonia 1 201/1 2 2 9-10
140 LIBO D Scribonia 8 416/1 6 6 279-284
141 L·SENTI·C·F D Sentia 1 325/1 1 1 76
142 M ·SERGI SILVS Q D Sergia 1 286/1 2 2 47-48
143 C·SERVEILI·M·F D Servilia 1 239/1 1 1 20
144 M ·SERVEILI·C·F D Servilia 13 327/1 1 1 77
145 P ·SERVILI·M ·F – RVLLI D Servilia 14 328/1 1 1 78
146 C·SERVEIL C·F D Servilia 15 423/1 1 1 295
147 Q ·SICINIVS III VIR – C· COPONIVS PR D Sic et Cop. 1 444/1 2 2 351-352
148 Q ·SICINIVS III VIR D Sicinia 5 440/1 1 1 316
149 C·TER LVC D Terentia 10 217/1 1 1 14
150 L·THORIVS BALBVS D Thoria 1 316/1 2 2 70-71
151 Q ·TITI D Titia 2 341/2 2 2 112-113
152 Q ·TITI Q Titia 3 341/3 3 3 114-116
153 L·TITVRI – SABIN D Tituria 1 344/1a 3 3 137-139
154 L·TITVRI – SABIN D Tituria 2 344/1b 2 2 140-141
155 L·TITVRI – SABIN D Tituria 4 344/2b 1 1 142
156 L·TITVRI – SABIN A·PV D Tituria 5 344/2c 1 1 143
157 L·TITVRI – SABIN D Tituria 6 344/3 2 2 144-145
158 L·TREBANI D Trebania 1 241/1 1 1 21
159 M ·TVLLI D Tullia 1 280/1 2 2 41-42
160 L·VALERI FLACCI D Valeria 11 306/1 2 2 66-67
161 P ·SABIN Q Q Vettia 1 331/1 3 3 81-83
162 T·VETTIVS IVDEX – SABINVS D Vettia 2 404/1 1 1 257
163 C·VIBIVS · C·F – PANSA D Vibia 2 342/5b 11 10 117-126
164 C·VIBIVS·C·F·C·N IOVIS·ANXVR – PANSA D Vibia 18 449/1 2 2 362-363
165 M ·VOLTEI·M.·F D Volteia 1 385/1 2 2 240-241
 166 M ·VOLTEI·M.·F D Volteia 4 385/4 2 2 242-243
167 C·PLVTI D Plutia 1 278/1 1 1 39
168 M ·PLAETORI·CEST – SORS D Plaetoria 10 405/2 1 1 258

Totals 426 363

At first glance the chart reveals that the differences between the two groups, the original and
current, are not often random but heavily concentrated according to the Babelon organization used
by Quagliati. Practically all the coins from C·ANNI to CN·BLASIO (the 69 coins from Annia 4 to
Cornelia 19) are missing en bloc. Within this range, indeed, only two types survive intact, the single
AN RVF coin and the 9 of L·PISO FRVGI, while one C·PISO FRVGI denarius remains from seven,
and one of M·CIPI from four, with everything else lost entirely. Though we will never know for
sure what happened to the missing coins, it seems likely that essentially the contents of one tray, the
second, were lost. The hoard should naturally have originally been stored according to the Babelon
organization in Quagliati's 1904 publication because Quintino Quagliati was himself director of the
MARTA, in various official capacities, from 1898 until his death in 1932.4 The first tray probably
contained 73 coins (the 16 unsigned and 31 Acilia pieces plus another 26 denarii to the three Annia
2 coins), and the second the 69 pieces in the range mentioned above, of which only 12 remain
today. The survival of these twelve exceptions may be explained by dislocation from their home
tray for various reasons at the moment the hoard was packed up for safe keeping during the war ;
perhaps as part of an exhibition at the museum, or taken out for cleaning or study purposes.
Beyond this range only 6 other coins are missing : 1 denarius from the 30 of Mn. Acilius, 2
quinarii from the 11 of C. Egnatuleius, and 1 denarius each of Caesar, Rubrius Dossenus and C.
Vibius Pansa. The last three cases, however, could be due to confusion in Quagliati's publication
rather than actual loss of the coins. In a copy of the NSc 1904 paper at the MARTA5 there are some
annotations in pencil that indicate one specimen less than the printed numbers. Since one of these
four notes is on the Cassia 10 series, now completely lost, they were evidently written before the
war, perhaps by Quagliati himself who, as mentioned above, was director of the museum until 1932.
Another interesting penciled annotation corrects the printed Cornelia 28 (the aureus) to 29 (the
denarius), one of the errors also noticed by Backendorf.
In his 1904 paper Quagliati provided descriptions of control marks (symbols, numbers, letters)
where they appeared on individual specimens, as well as macroscopic defects such as oxidation,
bending and legends off flan (Qn. 15, 31, 74, 160), and brockage6 (Qn. 10, 90, 111, 168). These all
correspond perfectly with the physical material now available and preserved photographically.
In Quagliati's text only three coins pose significant identification problems ; Qn. 4 (coin n. 29,
RRC 255/1), Qn. 167 (coin 39, RRC 278/1) and Qn. 168 (coin 258, RRC 405/2). To assist the
reader these are illustrated in Fig. 2, along with coin 95 which lacks any catalogue number
(probably a slip at the printing stage).
 6

Fig. 1 – Coin n. 285, M. Lepidus denarius (RRC 419/1b), oversized. © MARTA.

Qn. 4 (coin 29) was grouped among the unsigned types (see Tab. 1) with the following
description :
Head of Roma r. with winged helmet ; behind Ӿ / Victoria with trophy in quadriga stepping r. ; in
the exergue ROMA.

The physical problems with this particular coin evidently resulted in this erroneous description and
Quagliati's failure to identify it as an Acilian type (RRC 255/1). The Hercules charioteer on the
reverse is partly off flan, while damage to the edges has removed most of the identifying
characteristics from the obverse. This issue has a highly atypical obverse design with the moneyer
name legend running around the edge between two circles of dots. But the outer circle has
disappeared entirely from this specimen and taken virtually the whole legend with it, apart from a
single isolated letter, thus presenting the aspect of an intact obverse with the normal single border of
dots and no legend within.
Similar problems are found with Qn. 167 (coin 39), where gouging of the reverse flan7 and wear
seriously obstruct identification of the C·PLVTI legend ; only faint traces of VTI remain towards
the right edge on the flan. This coin was listed among the incerte at the end of Quagliati's catalogue
with the description :
Head of helmed Roma r. / Dioscuri galloping r. ; in the exergue (ROMA worn away) ; in the field
below the horses uncertain letters worn away (much used).
The coin 258 brockage is ascribed to Qn. 168 as the last of the uncertain coins, though Quagliati
might have included it among the Plaetoriae with a little more daring. In fact his hypothetical
identification of Plaetoria 10 (RRC 405/2) is the correct classification for this coin.
 7

Fig. 2 : The four coins with significant classification problems in Quagliati 1904

There are four classification mistakes in Quagliati's catalogue :

– coin n. 7 (RRC 182/1) was included among the six unsigned Dioscuri specimens of Qn. 1
(Babelon anonymous 2), probably by an oversight as the griffin symbol is worn and partly off flan ;
– coin 285 (RRC 419/1b) was identified as an Aemilia 20 piece but the absence of the wreath and
simpulum symbols (see Fig. 1, above) shows that it is Aemilia 21 (a variant of 20 without those
symbols) ;
– coin 95 (RRC 335/10a) lacks its proper Babelon classification, Postumia 5, but has its own
description (Qn. 123) quite distinct from the immediately preceding Postumia 4 specimen (Qn. 122,
coin 94 = RRC 335/9). So in this case is appears that the typesetter accidentally omitted the
Postumia 5 classification probably present in the manuscript submitted by Quagliati ;
– finally, as mentioned above, there is a misprint already identified in the annotated copy of
Quagliati 1904 at the MARTA, and by Backendorf (Cornelia 28 gold issue, instead of the 29
denarius).8
This completes the examination of the differences between Carbonara 1903 as originally
published and its present remaining 363 coins, allowing us to identify the two groups and to solve a
few problems of interpretation in Quagliati's otherwise excellent work.
There are no victoriati in the hoard, but it does contain quinarii minted during the 90s – 80s BC
(some with the victoriate designs). In detail there are : 3 pieces of RRC 331/1 (P. Sabinus), 9 of
RRC 333/1 (Egnatuleius), 3 of RRC 341/3 (Titius), 8 of RRC 343/2 (Cato), 3 of RRC 348/4
(Rubrius), 9 of RRC 345/2 (Lentulus) and one unsigned RRC 373/1 coin. It should also be pointed
out that 2 Egnatulei and 5 Clouli pieces are missing from the present remains. Therefore among the
quinarii of that period only the RRC 326/2 (Fundania) and 340/2 (L. Piso) issues were absent. Coin
229, the unsigned RRC 373/1 quinarius is especially interesting. Quagliati listed this in his
 8
catalogue at Qn. 7 as a “sestertius and a half” (sesterzio e mezzo). It is the only plated coin in the
hoard, something overlooked by Quagliati despite the clear aperture in the silver coating on the
obverse.

The burial date of Carbonara 1903 is established by the closing sequence of its denarii. These
include most types minted in the 50s and 49 BC and finally two of 48 BC : nine denarii of Hostilius
Saserna (RRC 448/1-3) and two of Vibius Pansa (both 449/1). The substantial contemporary series
in the name of Brutus Albinus (450/1-3) is absent and likewise the rare joint issue of Albinus and
Pansa (451/1) and Caesar's famous series of 48-47 BC marked LII (452/2, 4 and 5). So all
indications are of a cache buried in the second year of the civil war, in the context of frequent
passages of troops and ships between the south eastern Italian ports and the Illyrian coast.
That is also the context to remark on the most striking statistical anomaly of the hoard's contents
; the 29 (30) denarii of Mn. Acilius (RRC 442/1). At about 8% of the 383 denarii in Quagliati's 1904
catalogue this much the largest presence of any single type. While this Acilian series is well known
for its huge production, and larger numbers of the fresher coinage are to be expected in general, 30
pieces of the one moneyer represents a unique order of magnitude here. Only two other types are
represented by two-digit numbers, both from the earlier round of civil wars during the 80s BC : 10
(11)9 denarii of Vibius Pansa (RRC 342/5b) and 14 (15) of Rubrius Dossenus (RRC 348/1).
However even the sum of these falls short of the Acilian total.

Fig. 3 – Coin n. 347, Caesar denarius (RRC 443/1), 49 BC military mint, oversized. © SAP.

Almost equally striking is the relatively low number, only 5 (6), of Caesar's huge elephant issue
(RRC 443/1, see fig. 3), a year and more after it began to be minted. Normally these two types10
appear in caches with similar frequency, most paradigmatically in the Alvignano hoard (RRCH 417,
Campania : 111 of each) and San Giuliano Vecchio (RRCH 365, Piedmont : 26 Acilian, 24 Caesar
elephants). Sometimes one or the other appears twice as often and more ; there are only 9 Acilian
coins in the central Cispadane Pieve Quinta hoard RRCH 421) to 22 elephants, likewise 7 and 19 in
San Bartolomeo in Sassoforte from the same region (RRCH 401) ; while just across the Po this
 9
proportion is reversed in the larger Ossolaro hoard (RRCH 390 : 25 elephants but 42 Acilian
denarii).
The scant numbers of Caesar's elephant type in Carbonara 1903 could be explained by the thirty
pieces missing from the original find if all, or most, of the coins sold by the antiquarian had been of
that type. Certainly it is a type much sought after by collectors, unlike the Acilia. In fact, of the five
remaining Caesar coins at least two have serious problems from a collecting point of view (n. 346
has a heavily worn obverse, n. 350 is almost bent in two), while two others may have been less
attractive to collectors because they exhibit the naive style elephant (nn. 348 and 349, in contrast to
n. 347, see fig. 3).11 Possibly, therefore, the most beautiful specimens of the Caesar elephants were
sold before the Taranto Museum gained possession of the hoard. Militating against, however, is the
significant presence of the RRC 448/2a series (see fig. 4), perhaps even more sought after by
collectors because of its supposed depiction of Vercingetorix on the obverse. The surviving material
includes four such coins in FDC condition. Perhaps this anomaly of the scant presence of Caesar
elephants and the contrasting superabundance of the Acilian denarii can better be attributed to the
good fortune of the burial date and understood to provide a valuable snapshot from the initial
circulation of these two large war-fund emissions ; the elephants tending to follow Caesar's armies
westward in the year of manufacture (49 BC) while a greater proportion of the Acilian travelled in
an opposing direction through the regions of the SE Italian ports.

Fig. 4 – Coin n. 357, Hostilius Saserna denarius (RRC 448/2a), mint of Rome, 48 BC, oversized. © MARTA.

That the sale of about 25 coins by the antiquarian of Taranto did not substantially change the
composition of the hoard also seems to be assured by the presence of some highly sought rare
types, in addition to the Hostilius Saserna “Vercingetorices” already mentioned. Here the wreath
would have to go to coin 69, the RRC 309/1 A. Manlius (or Manilius) denarius (see fig. 5). This
beautifully designed, and made, type is extremely rare in all caches of any size with the unique and
striking exception of the Berchidda hoard from Sardinia (RRCH 249), which contained 33
 10
specimens among almost 1,400 denarii. But it is missing from both Monte Codruzzo and
Roncofreddo (RRCH 252 and 298, in total about 10,000 denarii), and otherwise its appearances
published to date seem to be single coins, the size of the hoard apparently irrelevant to mainly
chance captures. One piece has been recorded in each of three other hoards ; Sierra Morena in
southern Spain (RRCH 186, 617 denarii), and two more published after RRCH ; Mesagne 1979/80
from the same region as Carbonara,12 and Fossalta from the east Transpadana near Aquileia.13
Observe that Carbonara 1882 (RRCH 443, about 2700 denarii) does not contain any and Mesagne,
almost 16 times larger, only the one.

Fig. 5 – Coin n. 69, A. Man(i)lius Ser(gia tribu) denarius (RRC 309/1), mint of Rome, or temporary mint in
Sardinia, about 123 BC, oversized. © MARTA.

We can also add to these rarities coins 15 (RRC 221/1, only one example in Carbonara 1882,
none in Mesagne), 183 (RRC 350A/1, only one example in Carbonara 1882, 6 in Mesagne along
with 169 of the 350A/2 unsigned examples), 257 (RRC 404/1, Vettia) and 258 (RRC 405/2,
Plaetoria). The M. Cato emissions (RRC 343) are well represented ; in addition to the rare denarius
(343/1, coins 127-8), there are 8 pieces of the much more common quinarii (343/2).
The Carbonara 1903 hoard, despite the probable vicissitudes of the war period, is therefore now
available, albeit not complete. The few inconsistencies and difficulties of Quagliati's catalogue have
been resolved by direct study of the material.
 11
Reference Abbreviations

Babelon, Description
E. Babelon, Description historique et chronologique des monnaies de la république romaine
vulgairement appelées monnaies consulaires (2 volumes, Paris, 1885 and 1886)

Backendorf 1998
D. Backendorf, Römische Münzschätze des zweiten und ersten Jahrhunderts v. Chr. Vom
italienischen Festland (Berlin, 1998), pp. 51-52 (in the catalogue of hoards), pp. 281-284 (full
content list by RRC type classifications), and Knr. 181 (map number).

Lockyear 2007
K. Lockyear, Patterns and Process in Late Roman Republican Coin Hoards, 157 – 2 BC (British
Archaeological Reports, International Series, 1733, Archaeopress, Oxford, 2007)

Nicolai online
R. M. Nicolai, “Schede sintetiche dei ripostigli” ;
http://www.monetaecivilta.it/denario_repubblicano/schede_ripostigli.pdf

Quagliati 1904
Q. Quagliati, “Carbonara: ripostiglio di monete repubblicane d’argento”, NSc 1904, 53-65

Nb. In the original article in Notiziario PNS 8 the authors' abbreviation NSc for the journal Notizie
degli Scavi was changed throughout to NSA by an editorial slip.

RRC
M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (2 volumes, Cambridge 1974)

RRCH
M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coin Hoards (RNS, London 1969)

Stannard 1993
C. Stannard, “The Adjustment al Marco of the Weight of Roman Republican Denarii Blanks by
Gouging”, pp. 45-70 in M. M. Archibald & M. R. Cowel (eds.), Metallurgy in Numismatics 3
(RNS, London, 1993)

Woytek 2006
B. Woytek, “Die Verwendung von Mehrfachstempeln in der antiken Münzprägung und die
`Elefantendenare' Iulius Caesars (RRC 443/1)”, SNR 85 (2006), 69–96
1a pp. 160-170 in Notiziario del Portale Numismatico dello Stato 8 (Serie “Medaglieri Italiani”, Museo
Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto : Il Medagliere, Storia, consistenza, fruizione, 2016).

See the online text of Notiziario PNS 8 ;

http://www.numismaticadellostato.it/pns-pdf/notiziario/Notiziario_8_2016.pdf

and the accompanying online photographic catalogue ;

http://www.numismaticadellostato.it/web/pns/patrimonio/vetrine

1 This visit was made by Pierluigi Debernardi, who wishes to thank Giuseppe Libero Mangieri for gracious
hospitality, accessibility and assistance. Heart felt thanks go to the support provided by Richard Schaefer for
this project, as also for his assistance, together with Kenneth L. Friedman, in the processing of the images
taken at the MARTA in March 2014.

2 As demonstrated in the case of the Montedoro hoard of quadrigati ; see the relevant contribution in the present
volume. [ P. Debernardi's article, “I quadrigati apuli”, Notiziario PNS 8, pp. 94-117]

3 See Quagliati 1904. Quagliati used Babelon's classification system, chiefly gentilic-alphabetic. This was
converted into the current RRC standard by Dirk Backendorf (Backendorf 1998). Michael Crawford's RRCH,
his chief preparatory work for RRC, registered Carbonara 1903 as hoard 362 (p. 112). He used its closing
sequence in Table XIV for chronologic purposes in both RRCH (pp. 30-31) and RRC (pp. 90-91), but did not
include it among the 24 hoards he used for quantification of dies and emission sizes in RRC Table L (pp. 642-
671). Carbonara 1903 is undoubtedly one of the mainstays in the corpus of Roman Republic coin hoards. It is
included in Nicolai online, Rosa Maria Nicolai's handy recent online survey of the corpus. Earlier it appeared
as E. A. Sydenham's Find XXXIX, in The Coinage of the Roman Republic (London, 1952 ; at p. lvi in his
summary list of caches), and as no. 30 among 49 selected hoards in H. A. Grueber's charts appended to vol. III
of BMCRR (1910). Carbonara 1903 also appears as hoard 264 (p. 271) with identification code CR1 in
Lockyear 2007, an innovative quantum or statistical approach to ancient hoard evidence. Kris Lockyear and
the American Numismatic Society are presently collaborating to digitize a large portion of the data of RR
hoards, a vast project entitled Coin Hoards of the Roman Republic Online (http://numismatics.org/chrr/ ) with
much potential for the advancement of Roman numismatic and economic studies. Lockyear's system of unique
3-digit identification codes for each hoard in the CHRR Online database is an important element in this project,
likely to acquire enduring currency. The present study, however, is based on the catalogue in Quagliati 1904,
from the only direct examination of the hoard.

4 Brief accounts of Quagliati's career include the succinct summary in M. Chelotti, V. Morizio & M. Silvestrini
(eds.), Le Epigrafi romane di Canosa II (Bari, 1990), p. 164.

5 Thanks to G. Libero Mangieri for providing a scan of this document.

6 The reverse consisting of the obverse design in incuse ; i. e. the coin of the preceding strike remains attached
to the reverse (hammer) die, so that the next strike imprints the obverse in incuse on the reverse face of the
next blank.

7 See Stannard 1993.

8 It seems worthwhile to point out here another minor error in Quagliati's catalogue : on p. 60 he registers the
five RRC 354/1 denarii (Licinius Macer, Babelon 16) as B. II p. 133, n. 11 instead of n. 16. This is quite a
trivial slip since the only denarius type on p. 133 of Babelon's second volume is no. 16 and Quagliati's type
description is correct. However Backendorf failed to notice all the information provided, recorded only no. 11,
and thus misclassified the hoard's five RRC 354/1 denarii as RRC 282/1, a very different and much earlier
type. Backendorf similarly amplified a problem with the RRC 412/1 Roscius Fabatus issue. Quagliati
unavoidably registered this as B. II p. 402, n. 1 after an unfortunate misprint on p. 402 of the Babelon
catalogue itself, where the two distinct types RRC 283/1a and 412/1 are both labelled Roscia 1 (instead of
Roscia 1 and Roscia 2). However Backendorf overlooked Quagliati's correct type description and converted
the Roscia 1 classification to the RRC type 283/1a.

9 These numbers in parentheses refer to those in Quagliati's 1904 catalogue, following the numbers remaining
 today.

10 Michael Harlan will shortly publish a persuasive new interpretation of the RRC 442 and 443 types,
considering the denarii of Acilius and Caesar together, with a focus on their common snake motif as symbolic
of Salus Publica. On Caesar's issue this is trampled under foot by the interference of the elephant-badge
family, the Caecilii Metelli, but in particular Metellus Scipio (cos. 52) and L. Metellus (tr.pl. 49 who attempted
to obstruct Caesar's access to the Treasury). Harlan dates the Acilian issue to 50 BC, the year before Caesar's.
See chapt. 30 of the forthcoming second edition of Roman Republican Moneyers and Their Coins, 63 BC – 49
BC (first edition, 1995).

Addendum. Harlan's second edition has now been published by Spink & Son, London, 2015, (ISBN
9781907427589). See, e. g., the webpage for this book in the ANS collection ;
http://donum.numismatics.org/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=194490

11 The denarii with such characteristics could have been produced in southern Gaul, in view of the double die
minting technique employed ; in some off-centre specimens traces of adjacent borders appear on the obverse
face with the elephant (Woytek 2006).

12 Mesagne is a few kilometres from Taranto ; the hoard contained 5,940 denarii, dispersed in commerce. It was
published by C. Hersh and A. Walker, ANSMN 29 (1984), 103.

13 Gorini, Coin Hoards I, 158, 260 denarii.