Ancient Roman Coins

Roman Coins

The early Roman Coinage of the Republic consisted of a system of weights (Aes Grave) issued before 280 B.C. These Bronze ingots or bars had designs on both sides and were most likely exchangeable by weight.

As Rome expanded and started to trade with other city-states, the Romans realised that to facilitate trade they would need to have silver coins as well as struck bronzes.

During the time of the republic, the Romans took inspiration from the Ancient Greeks and heavily featured mythology on their coins. Many interesting Roman coins were made during this period. Examples are the silver denarii depicting Rome’s founders Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf, as well as the denarius featuring Hercules strangling the Nemean lion on the reverse.

In Imperial times, coins became symbols of power and were used to disseminate the Emperor’s image across the empire as having god-like status.

Julius Caesar was the first living Roman to issue coins bearing his own portrait. This act shocked the senate who considered it to be an extreme act of arrogance on Caesar's part, as only gods and kings were featured on coins. Later his great-nephew Octavian (Augustus) adopted the idea, and so did all the Roman emperors that came after him. All of them have had their portraits immortalised on coins.

Roman coinage lasted for eight centuries, so there are a number of ways to collect them. Some collectors attempt to have a coin for every Emperor, while many others may choose a particular point in history to focus on. Some will also attempt to have every single issue of a particular denomination for one Emperor.

As there are many ways to collect, we have chosen to present our stock in the easiest way possible and divide our ancient Roman coins into Roman Silver Coins (Roman Republic Coins and Roman Imperial Coins) and Roman Bronze Coins. Our coins have also been tagged according to the dynasty an emperor belongs to.