| Note |
6567 and 6568 which form one group, as die identities prove, look like small medallions, of the size of dupondii. They lack the SC formula and their metallic content (at least for the L specimen which has been analysed) is not orichalcum, but high tin bronze (Sn 17.7%; Pb 9.8%: unpublished analysis by Q. Wang, British Museum). This suggests that they were not struck in Rome but elsewhere. It is then difficult to resist the idea that they were struck in the East and that the Adventus reverse design links them with Hadrian’s journeys. The obverse style seems to link them to the Ephesian cistophori (compare with RPC 1328-1349) and Ephesian bronzes (see Bellesia, loc. cit., p. 13). Anomalous denarii of Hadrian, which diverge stylistically from both the mint of Rome and Antioch, are also of a similar style as some of the cistophori of Hadrian . See also General Introduction, chapter 4.
|