60 asses circa 211-207, AV 16 mm, 3.36 g. Bearded and draped head of Mars r., wearing Corinthian helmet; in l. field, mark of value VX. Rev. Eagle standing r., with spread wings, on thunderbolt; below, ROMA. Bahrfeldt 4. Sydenham 226. RBW 160. Crawford 44/2. In exceptional state of preservation. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc Ex Busso Peus 369, 2001, 278; Tkalec 26 October 2007, 81 and NGSA 22, 2025, 145 sales. Roman coinage was forever changed by the invasion of Italy by Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who ran the length of Italy with his armies and brought his soldiers to the walls of Rome. The Romans had never before issued gold coins, but this crisis merited it twice. The first issue of staters and half-staters was struck c. 218-216 B.C., when Rome had suffered crushing defeats to Hannibal’s army. These coins show the jugate head of the Dioscuri and an oath scene meant to shore up the traditional alliance between Rome and its Italian allies. The second coinage, to which this piece belongs, was issued c. 211-208 B.C., when the Carthaginian army was still menacing Italy, but the tide of war had shifted in favour of Rome. They were the last Roman gold coins until the Imperatorial period, when aurei were struck for Sulla in the late 80s B.C. The issue is comprised of coins denominated 60, 40 and 20 asses. The martial nature of the coinage is made clear with the designs – the helmeted head of Mars, the god of war, and the eagle of the supreme god Jupiter, standing upon his thunderbolt. Various resources were tapped to create this coinage, including special levies and loot from Syracuse, which had fallen to the Romans in 212. Meanwhile, in 211, the Romans had forced Capua into submission, denying Hannibal his main supply depot in Southern Italy. Unlike the first gold coinage (which seems to have been struck on a small scale, perhaps on a single occasion), this second was much larger and was struck in enough variety to suggest that regional or moving mints were used in addition to Rome. Please find here the video of the coin