Ave!
Bulla, Boys Amulet, Commodus Denarius inside!, late 2nd Cent AD
Bulla; Copper Alloy; 21mm/2.1gm
Con/ One small plow dent, otherwise, As Cast; green and brown patina; traces of original thin tinning about the outside.
Commodus Denarius - Silver;17mm/1.8gm Rome mint c. 191-192 AD
Con/ about Good Fine
Obv/ L AEL AVREL COMM AVG P FEL; laureate head right
Rev/ HERCVLI ROMANO AVG, Hercules standing front, head left, crowning trophy, holding lion skin & club.
This ia a scarcer type, one of the series where Commodus' megalomania starts to get the best of him as he reimagines himself as the Roman Hercules.
Ref/ RIC Vol III, 254 AD
Seller's Note/ Back story - When arrived, I placed it in a bath of Vulpex to remove soften dirt. After removing the compressed flat bulla from the bath, I figured that it was still full of mud, so I used a dental probe just open it enough wash out the rest of the mud. See the 1st photo. Opening it just a little more, a denarius popped out! See the 2nd photo of the denarius after simple tooth brushing. The last photo reflects both bulla and the denarius after minimal cleaning.
Bulla's are rare and the Commodus denarius is scarce. Such a very extraordinarily find for both combined should be considered priceless, you know, as it is that rare, trust me.
A bulla was an amulet worn around the neck as a locket to protect against evil spirits and forces and were made of differing substances depending upon the wealth of the family. Such lockets were given to male Roman children nine days after birth. Before the age of manhood, Roman boys wore a bulla, a neck chain and round pouch containing protective amulets (usually phallic symbols) and the bulla of an upper-class boy would be made of gold. Other materials included copper alloy, leather and cloth. A freeborn Roman boy continued to wear a bulla until he came of age as a Roman citizen. Before he put on his toga virilis ("toga of manhood") he placed his boyhood bulla in the care of his parental household deities.
As seen in the photos, this common bulla was worn by a boy from middle-class family, but why the denarius was enclosed into the bulla is moot. Perhaps at the time he was still very young and his parents added the denarius to his Bulla Pouch in order that he would have some money to pay if he was lost? Your guess is as good as mine.
