Obverse: Head of Jupiter in laurel wreath, clockwise, in pearl surround.
Reverse: Victoria crowning the trophy, between them a mace, in ROMA section.
Silver, diameter 17.5 mm, weight 3.41 g.
The offered victoriatus (Latin victoriatus - a name attested as early as in Pliny the Elder's "Natural History") belongs to one of the earliest issues of this interesting denomination, minted only in the period from about 211 to about 170 BC. Its weight corresponds to 2/3 of a denarius, but the lower content of pure silver in the alloy leads numismatists to consider it the equivalent of a quinar, i.e. 1/2 of a denarius (see, among others, the catalog of quinars by C. E. King, "Roman Quinarii from the Republic to Diocletian and the Tetrarchy," Oxford 2007: 1). Quinarii, whose weight corresponded to the South Vital drachma, were minted for trade with the cities of the area, while the slightly weaker silver allowed Rome to make additional money on these transactions.
