The dupondius was a brasscoin used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire valued at 2 asses. The Dupondius was introduced during the Roman Republicas a large bronze cast coin, although even at introduction it weighed less than 2 pounds. The initial coinsfeatured the bust of Roma on the obverse and a six-spoked wheel on the reverse. A loaf of bread or a sextarius of wine cost roughly one Dupondius at the height of the Roman Empire, though due to the debasement of the Denarius over the following century, the Dupondius was discarded. With the coinage reform of Augustus in about 23 BC, the sestertius and dupondius were produced in a goldencoloredcopper-alloy called orichalcum by the Romans and numismatists, and Latin brass by us, while lower denominations were produced out of reddishcopper. However, some dupondii were made entirely from copper under Augustus, while under Nero some aes were made from both orichalcum and copper, instead of only copper for aes coined until then. Therefore, the latter can only be distinguished from dupondii by their smaller size instead of by also the appearance of the metal. The dupondius was normally further distinguished from the similarly sized as with the addition of a radiate crown to the bust of the emperor in 66 AD during the reign of Nero. Using a radiate crown to indicate doublevalue was also markedly used on the antoninianus introduced by Caracalla and the double sestertius. Since dupondii minted prior to and during the reign of Nero, and occasionally under later rulers, lack the radiate crown, it is often hard to distinguish between the as and the dupondius due to heavy patina which often obscures the coin's original color. An extremely rare dupondius from the reign of Marcus Aurelius, dated to 154 or 155 and in excellent condition, was discovered in 2007 at the archeological site in Draper's Gardens, London. of Hadrian, dupondius of Antoninus Pius, and as of Marcus Aurelius , struck at Lyon in about 72-73. This coin seems to have escaped the serious corrosion typically observed in ancient coins and thus retains nearly its original appearance and colour, showing why the Romans sometimes also called this alloy aurichalcum, from aurum for gold in Latin+"-chalcum" as in the most widely used orichalcum. The coin measures about 29mm in diameter.
