Owner Comments:
This rare ancient coin features Manlia Scantilla (139? - ? AD). It is rare because her husband Didius Julianus' 66-day tenure set a new ignominious record for the shortest imperial reign ever.
Julianus bribed his way atop Rome’s throne, and apparently the deal also included the Empress title for both his wife Scantilla and daughter, Didia Clara. Both Augustae were featured on bronze, silver, and gold coins produced in Rome over the period from March 28th to June 1st in the year 193 AD. The current coin is an example of a bronze sestertius that appropriately pairs Empress' obverse portrait with the reverse depiction of Juno, the Queen of the Gods. The same motif was employed on the reverse of all denominations struck in Scantilla's name.
Since Scantilla's coinage comprises only a few issues, scholars have had the opportunity to comprehensively catalog their various die varieties. Regarding Scantilla's bronze sestertii, a total of 16 different obverse dies been identified. It is interesting to consider such information in historical context towards conducting some back-of-the-envelope calculations.
Modern experiments suggest that ancient dies lasted about 15,000 strikes. Assuming that there were indeed 16 dies produced for Scantilla's sestertii, that production would require a total number of strikes:
Total number coin strikes = (15,000 strikes per die) x (16 dies) = 240,000 coin strikes
Modern experiments conclude that efficient
malliatores (hammerers) could strike perhaps 100 coins per hour, with the workers arranged into teams of four, one at each side of an anvil table taking turns striking. Ancient inscriptions describe 2nd century Rome’s mint employing a total of 32
malliatores. Considering various factors such as the strenuousness of the work, fractional daylight during April and May at Rome’s latitude, time for quality checks, and pauses for work-related injuries, etc., let's assume that these
malliatores worked eight hours per day. Accordingly, we can estimate Rome's daily coin production rate during Scantilla's reign:
Hourly production = (32
malliatores) x (1 team / 4
malliatores) x (100 coins strikes per team per hour) = 800 coins / hour
To estimate Rome's daily coin production rate during Scantilla's reign, we factor in the 8 hour workday assumption:
Daily production = (800 coin strikes / hour) x (8 hour shift per day) = 6400 coins / day
Rome's mint produced various denominations. Assuming that the mint’s fractional output of each denomination was inversely proportional to relative value (1 aureus = 25 denarii = 100 sestertii), we can estimate Rome's daily sestertius production during Scantilla's reign:
Daily sestertius production = (6400 coins strikes / day) x (100 sestertii / (1 + 25 + 100 coins) ) = 5039 sestertii strikes / day
Now comes the most interesting part where we factor in the modern research that has identified the 16 sestertii dies. Building on the calculations above, we can estimate the duration of Scantilla's sestertius production, which in turn would be an estimate for the length of Scantilla's reign:
Duration of Scantilla's sestertii production = (240,000 total sestertii strikes) / (5039 sestertii strikes / day) = 47 days
This rough estimation of 47 days isn't too far off the actual 66 day duration of Julianus' reign. As a further refinement to this estimate, consider that the ancient Romans celebrated a very large number of holidays, with 19 occurring in April and May. While we can’t know for sure, perhaps
malliatore benefits included the ancient equivalent of 8 hours of PTO per holiday? In any case, applying the final assumption that the hard working
malliatores celebrated holidays, we need to add an extra 19 days to the estimate. This yields the final estimation of the duration of Scantilla’s sestertius production of 66 days - the same as her actual reign!
Additional Reading: AM Woodward, The Coinage of Didius Julianus and His Family,
The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, Vol 1, 1961, p 1-31.
Additional Reading: JM Wickens, The Production of Ancient Coins, Lawrence University Essay, 1996.
Coin Details: ROMAN EMPIRE, Manlia Scantilla, Augusta, AD 193, Æ Sestertius (29mm, 19.74 g, 1h), Rome mint, Struck under Didius Julianus, NGC Grade: VG, Strike: 4/5, Surface: 2/5, Obverse: Draped bust right, MANLIA SCAN TILLA AVG, Reverse: Juno standing left, holding patera and vertical scepter; at feet to left, peacock standing left, head right, IVNO REGINA SC, References: RIC IV 18a (Julianus); Banti 2.