Crawford 238/1, Roman Republic, 136 BC., moneyer Lucius Antestius Gragulus, Denarius

Roman Republic (Rome mint 136 BC.), moneyer Lucius Antestius Gragulus,
Denarius (19-20 mm, 3,84 g), silver, axis irregular alignment ?? (ca. 290°),
Obv.: helmeted head of Roma right, GRAG behind, mark of value ? (XVI monogram for a value of 16 As) before.
Rev.: Jupiter in quadriga right, holding sceptre and reins in left hand and hurling thunderbolt with right; below, L ANTES (ANTE in monogram); in exergue, ROMA.
Crawford 238/1 ; Sydenham 451 ; Babelon (Antestia) 9 ; BMCRR Rome 976 .

For this type Crawford found an estimate of 253 obverse dies and 316 reverse dies.
The moneyer may be the magistrate reported in 129 BC in the “Senatus Consultum de agro Pergameno”, (Senate decree concerning the lands of the Kingdom of Pergamon bequeathed by King Attalus III in 133 BC). For the coinage of the year 136 BC, Lucius Antestius Gragulus is associated with the moneyers Cnaeus Lucretius Trio and Caius Servilius.

The denarius originally weighed 4,55 g of silver (1/72 of the Roman pound) from the end of the Second Punic War. This was the weight of the Attic drachm. About 217 BC the denarius was reduced to a weight of 1/84 of the pound, or approximately 3,90 g. it was to retain this value until the end of the Republic until the reform of Augustus. Between 141 and 134 BC a new mark appears on the denarius which is now worth 16 As instead of 10 As before.