Roman Republic Æ Triens(20.5mm, 5.75g), anonymous, after 211 BC, Sardinian, Sicilian or Southern Italian mint. Helmeted head of Minerva right; above, four pellets / Prow right with flat-topped deck structure; above, ROMA; below, four pellets. cf. Crawford 56/4; McCabe group H1(halfweight overstrikes); Russo RBW 207-208.
Ex Vecchi 3, 1996, lot 124, Fallani collection.
This coin is from a lightweight anonymous series not fully identified by Crawford, but related to the anonymous Crawford 56 series being struck in Rome at the time. These coins are almost always overstruck and though the undertype is not identifiable on this one, those with identifiable undertypes are largely overstruck on Sicilian, Sardinian, Southern Italian or Punic bronzes, and less frequently, Roman bronzes, of approximately half the weight of the equivalent types being struck in Rome. See Andrew McCabe's paper on anonymous bronzes for more info.