Anonymous. 211-208 BC. AV 60 Asses (15mm, 3.36 g, 5h). Rome mint. Bearded head of Mars right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet; mark of value to left / Eagle standing right on thunderbolt, with wings spread; ROMA below. Crawford 44/2; Sydenham 226; BMCRR Rome 185-6; Kestner 285-6; Bahrfeldt 4a; Biaggi 3; RBW 160–1; Athena Fund III 200 ( this coin ). Lustrous. EF. Struck on a broad flan.

From the Jonathan P. Rosen Collection. Ex Roma XIV (21 September 2017), lot 437 (hammer £9500); Athena Fund (Part III, Sotheby’s New York, 9 December 1993), lot 200.

Rome's military successes in the later stages of the Second Punic War, especially the capture and sack of Syracuse, enabled her to undertake a fundamental reform of the coinage in 211 BC. This included the introduction of a series of three small gold denominations valued at 60, 40, and 20 asses. The types were identical in each case: a bearded head of Mars, god of war, on the obverse, and an eagle on thunderbolt (representing Jupiter) on reverse. The issue extended over a period of about three years and Rome seems to have been the principal mint.