Show me: Bizarre contemporary imitations

[Harry G]

Here are a few of mine!

Gordian III - PRINCIPI IVVENTVTIS

IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG  - Radiate, draped, cuirassed bust r.

RINCIPI IVVENTVTIS (sic!) - Herennius Etruscus standing left, holding baton and spear

Combines the obverse of a Gordian III antoninianus with the reverse of an antoninianus of Herennius Etruscus.

 

Otacilia Severa - AEQVITAS AVG

M OTACIL SEVERA AVG  - Diademed, draped bust r. on crescent

AEQVITAS AVG - Aequitas standing left holding scales and cornucopiae.

Obviously plated but apparently extremely rare. It combines the obverse of Otacilia Severa and the reverse of Philip I.

 

Postumus as Hercules - ORIENS AVG

POSTVMVS AVG  - Radiate bust left, holding club and wearing lion's skin

ORIENS AVG - Sol advancing left, holding whip and raising hand

Unpublished and apparently unique with ORIENS AVG reverse. Way too light to be an official issue.

 

Arcadius Solidus

D N ARCADI[VS P F AVG] - Helmeted and cuirassed bust facing, holding spear and shield.

[CONCORDI]A AVGG A - Constantinopolis seated facing on throne, head right, with foot set upon prow, holding sceptre and Victory on globe.

Technically my first gold coin. In terrible condition (hence why I was able to afford it), and with the plating wearing off.

 

Tetricus I - CONSECRATIO 

IMP C TETRICVS P F AVG  - Radiate, cuirassed bust r.

CONSECRATIO - Altar

A decent style hybrid issue, combining a Tetricus I obverse and a Claudius II reverse

 

Tetricus I - FIDES MILITVM (Clasped Hands)

[IMP C] TETRICVS P A[VG] - Radiate, draped, cuirassed bust r.

CONCORDIA MILITVM (Blundered) - Clasped Hands

Horrible condition, but an otherwise very rare coin. It combines the obverse of Tetricus I with a reverse of Marius. I've only found only other (much nicer condition) example here.

 

[Prieure de Sion]

21 minutes ago, Harry G said:

Horrible condition, but an otherwise very rare coin. It combines the obverse of Tetricus I with a reverse of Marius.

Very interesting collection...

 

[Prieure de Sion]

8 hours ago, Edessa said:

Marcus Aurelius as Augustus, AD 161-180. Barbaric Imitation AR Denarius (17mm, 3.24g, 5h). Obv: M ANTONINVS AVG-ARMENIA CVS: Laureate head right. Rev: PM TRP XIX IMP III COS III; Annona standing facing, head left, holding grain ears and cornucopiae, feet flanked by modius on left and prow on right. Ref: Cf. RIC 142; Cf. BMCRE 371; Cf. RSC 484. 

Great! The Reverse! Are this "hands" over the modius? 😃 
And the cornucopiae... great bizarre presentation of the reverse! Like the coin!

 

[Edessa]

No longer my coins, but: Gallienus, AD 253-268. Barbaric Imitation Silvered Æ Antoninianus (21mm, 3.20g, 6h). Obv: GALLIENVS AVG; Radiate, cuirassed bust right. Rev: VIRT GALLIENI AVG (blundered); Emperor walking to right, holding spear and shield and treading on fallen enemy. Ref: Cunetio 3057; cf. RIC 54.

[Edessa]

 

1 hour ago, Prieure de Sion said:

Great! The Reverse! Are this "hands" over the modius? 😃 
And the cornucopiae... great bizarre presentation of the reverse! Like the coin!

 

I presume that one arm is holding the cornucopiae. So, the "hand" over the modius must have been injured in battle! Or perhaps it was an early Disney attempt to show someone fanning the flames? Proof that the ancient Serpent People of sunken Valusia actually ruled the Celtic Priesthood on the fringes of the Empire?

[Valentinian]

In the 1990s I was a serious collector of imitations and wrote many pages of a large website about them. This thread prompted me to upgrade, with better photos, the page of imitations of coins of Claudius.
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/imit/imitclaudius.html
Eventually I will upgrade the other pages, too. Now I am using recent digital photos, but in the 1990s when the concept of web sites was just beginning I was using scans! Many of the linked pages do not yet have the scans replaced with photos. 

For the main page of the site, see:
https://augustuscoins.com/ed/imit/index.html

I have not kept it up to date, but if you are interested in scholarly references, see my page of references:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/imit/imitationrefs.html 

Here is a Roman Republican imitation found in Spain. It is a small imitation of a Roman Republican semis.
18-16 mm. 3.06 grams.
Ripollés and Witschonke Studies in Ancient Coinage in Honor of Andrew Burnett, page 107 "Group F" "First third of the 1st C. BC." #83  p. 77 and plate 9 on page 105 is this coin. 

For more imitations like this semis, see my page (upgraded just now):
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/imit/imitationrepAE.html

[Finn235]

I have a fairly extensive collection of barbarous coins, most of which aren't even imaged yet. Some favorites

I don't think I've ever seen a more barbarous Nemausus?

 

Sold this one a couple years ago, I think it was trying to imitate a Claudius wreath type sestertius but on an As size flan?

 

Barbarous Claudius sestertius

 

Need to do more research on this one. Barbarous Hadrian Hercules / boar quadrans? Quite small at only 10mm; I've heard these described as "minim" coins from Caesarea Maritima

 

Oops! Forger mixed up a lifetime and posthumous Marcus Aurelius die

 

Matching set of Limes Falsum for the Mother and Father of the Camp

 

A barbarous Trebonianus Gallus. Need to find the website - a small hoard of these was found probably from a makeshift mint in the Balkans that made coins for Decius and Gallus

 

More later

[Edessa]

Not the same dies, but could have been the same workshop...

[Finn235]

Possibly. I don't see any evidence that mine ever had eyes, but that could have been worn off or else obscured through the patina. I wonder how often these were imitated? If I were a forger, I'd go for something easier to copy!

Which reminds me, I call this one,

"You either fall to the barbarians, or your empire lives long enough to become them"

(That's an official Anastasius I got in the same lot, I was just really tickled by the similarity in the bust style! 🙂 )

[Pellinore]

Recently some European auctions (Leu &c.) offered some gold and fourrée coins under the name Aurum Barbarorum, or Gold of the Barbarians. These coins imitate in coarsest manner some Roman aurei. They are often holed and only gilt, not really gold. I could only buy one of them. One of the most bizarre of the contemporary imitations! 

I wonder if anybody ever published these coins or wrote about finding them. There is an online catalog though, hosted by Warszaw University.

2911 B. ‘Marcus Aurelius’. Pseudo-Imperial coinage. Mid 3rd-early 4th centuries. “AV” 'Aureus' (fourrée (subaerate), 18 mm, 2.65 g, 12 h), imitating Marcus Aurelius (?). Obv. ∾CIΠ∾ •/∾C•ΛI∾ON Laureate head of Marcus Aurelius (?) to right. Rev. XCIIXCIXPX XCXIXICXICX Uncertain figure standing right, left arm outstretched. 18 mm, 2.66 gr. Holed and with some breaks in the plating. This type often hails from Vinnytsia Oblast, just north of Moldova. Leu 12 (1597).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What I also have is a silver decorative piece struck with aureus dies, well, more or less. A same dies piece, with an intact loop. is 2416 in this Leu auction. 

 

2945. Uncertain Germanic Tribes. Aurum Barbarorum. Late 3rd-early 4th centuries. Silver 'Aureus'. 22 mm, 4.20 gr. Cf. Aurum Barbarorum III, 2416 (same dies). Uncertain Germanic Tribes. https://leunumismatik.com/en/auction/30/  nr. 2416. “This highly unusual piece was cast in silver from the beautifully stylized golden 'aureus' type appearing in Leu 7 (2020), 1924.”. Late 3rd-early 4th centuries. 'Aureus' (Silver, 4.21 gm, 22mm), 'Tetrarchic Adventus Group D'. Imitating Diocletian, 284-305, or Maximian, 286-305 AD. Obv.: •Z+ΣCCI ΩYI-IIIՒ , laureate head left, heavily stylized; below, three pellets-in-crescents. Rev.: I+IΓ∾XII- Diocletian or Maximianus on horseback to left, heavily stylized, holding patera in his right hand and the tail of the horse in his left; in exergue, three crescents. Aurum Barbarorum III, 2416 (same dies).”

 

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Pellinore

[Rand]

On 7/12/2023 at 10:25 PM, Al Kowsky said:

 

 

This is a very nice and numismatically interesting coin.

 

It may be linked to the scarce but likely substantial issue of Anastasius below and helps date the issue to the late Zeno's and early Anastasius's reigns. For proof the link misses an ANASTASIVS PERP (491-492) transitional type - I hope it appears. If the link is correct, the issue is related to the conduct and spoils of the 489-493 Theodoric’s conquest of Italy from Odovacer.

I know 16 Anastasius coins of this type from 11 obverse and reverse dies with 35 predicted dies (700,000 coins if 20,000 coins were minted using a die pair). 

 

Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG. Auction 304. 19/03/2018

 

The solidi were produced with three 'officinae' marks: A, Ǝ, and I. Their good style and 'officinae' may link them to good style VPW tremisses, which also used A, Ǝ, I 'officinae'. If correct, this helps to date these tremisses.

Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung. Auction 228. 09/03/2015.

The later evolution of the solidi is not very clear. They have been followed by a small issue of the coins below, of which I only know 3 coins from 3 different die pairs. Their later issue is supported by using longer spears that break the legend and eventually nearly reach the rim. This development is well observed on Visigothic solidi and is typical of later Anastasian coins in Gaul. 

 

Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. Triton XXIV. 19/01/2021.

 

The issue seems to be completed by a single coin (which I do not own) of a more 'barbaric' style, which may be due to the minting city being affected by one of the numerous wars of the period. The 'barbarous' style of the last coin may indicate a takeover by Franks as Burgundians and Visigoths produced coins of good style during the early Anastasian period.

 

These coins are often attributed to Burgundians. Perhaps so. Both Visigoths and Burgundians were active during the Theodoric's war. They should have had a considerable amount of gold to produce the coins, Visigoths as payment for supporting Theodoric and Burgundians from spoils of invading Liguria and later from ransom paid by Theodoric for the prisoners being returned to Italy. Clovis's Francs were unlikely to be the issuers as they took advantage of the war by attacking the north of the Visigothic realm and other campaigns in the north.

 

Visigoths produced differen rather well-defined coin series, which leaves Burgundians likely candidates. If so, which of the Burgundian princes minted them, Gundobad in Lyon, Chilperic II in Valence, or Godegisel in Geneva? The good style makes it more likely by an established mint of Lyon. In this case, the last ‘barbaric’ coin could be minted during the year 500 war when Clovis chased Gundobad down to Avignon. 

 

Sadly, there are too few finds recorded. 

Solidi:

• Rhenen find, Utrecht, Netherlands, now in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden.
• Lenormant does not record the source of the coin know to him, but he typically published coins found in France (Lenormant C. Lettres à M. de Saulcy sur les plus anciens monuments numismatiques de la série mérovingienne. Revue Numismatique. 1853. pp. 99-139; 277-316.)

 

Tremisses:

• Two in the 1845 Gourdon Hoard hoard
• Tow in the 1804 Alise-Saint-Reine (Alesia) Hoard

This might support the Burgundian origin, but both hoards were buried much later - after the Anastasius reign.

 

PS. Everything above are only my speculations!

Edited July 15, 2023 by Rand

[Al Kowsky]

16 hours ago, Rand said:

This is a very nice and numismatically interesting coin.

 

It may be linked to the scarce but likely substantial issue of Anastasius below and helps date the issue to the late Zeno's and early Anastasius's reigns. For proof the link misses an ANASTASIVS PERP (491-492) transitional type - I hope it appears. If the link is correct, the issue is related to the conduct and spoils of the 489-493 Theodoric’s conquest of Italy from Odovacer.

I know 16 Anastasius coins of this type from 11 obverse and reverse dies with 35 predicted dies (700,000 coins if 20,000 coins were minted using a die pair). 

 

Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG. Auction 304. 19/03/2018

 

The solidi were produced with three 'officinae' marks: A, Ǝ, and I. Their good style and 'officinae' may link them to good style VPW tremisses, which also used A, Ǝ, I 'officinae'. If correct, this helps to date these tremisses.

Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung. Auction 228. 09/03/2015.

The later evolution of the solidi is not very clear. They have been followed by a small issue of the coins below, of which I only know 3 coins from 3 different die pairs. Their later issue is supported by using longer spears that break the legend and eventually nearly reach the rim. This development is well observed on Visigothic solidi and is typical of later Anastasian coins in Gaul. 

 

Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. Triton XXIV. 19/01/2021.

 

The issue seems to be completed by a single coin (which I do not own) of a more 'barbaric' style, which may be due to the minting city being affected by one of the numerous wars of the period. The 'barbarous' style of the last coin may indicate a takeover by Franks as Burgundians and Visigoths produced coins of good style during the early Anastasian period.

 

These coins are often attributed to Burgundians. Perhaps so. Both Visigoths and Burgundians were active during the Theodoric's war. They should have had a considerable amount of gold to produce the coins, Visigoths as payment for supporting Theodoric and Burgundians from spoils of invading Liguria and later from ransom paid by Theodoric for the prisoners being returned to Italy. Clovis's Francs were unlikely to be the issuers as they took advantage of the war by attacking the north of the Visigothic realm and other campaigns in the north.

 

Visigoths produced differen rather well-defined coin series, which leaves Burgundians likely candidates. If so, which of the Burgundian princes minted them, Gundobad in Lyon, Chilperic II in Valence, or Godegisel in Geneva? The good style makes it more likely by an established mint of Lyon. In this case, the last ‘barbaric’ coin could be minted during the year 500 war when Clovis chased Gundobad down to Avignon. 

 

Sadly, there are too few finds recorded. 

Solidi:

• Rhenen find, Utrecht, Netherlands, now in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden.
• Lenormant does not record the source of the coin know to him, but he typically published coins found in France (Lenormant C. Lettres à M. de Saulcy sur les plus anciens monuments numismatiques de la série mérovingienne. Revue Numismatique. 1853. pp. 99-139; 277-316.)

 

Tremisses:

• Two in the 1845 Gourdon Hoard hoard
• Tow in the 1804 Alise-Saint-Reine (Alesia) Hoard

This might support the Burgundian origin, but both hoards were buried much later - after the Anastasius reign.

 

PS. Everything above are only my speculations!

Rand, Thanks for sharing your research, thoughts, & photos ☺️. I had followed the "GERMANIC UNCERTAIN Solidus" a number of years before sinking my teeth into it as it moved from one auction house to another. After adding it to my collection, I sent it to NGC with the hope they might attribute it using new found info, but that wasn't the case 😒. I did browse through Guy Lacam's massive books hoping to find something similar without luck again. Lacam's books are a valuable resource, but they're almost 40 years old & much of his info is no longer valid. My gut feeling before I bought the coin was it's an Odovacar issue 🤔, & that might still be the case. Your photo of the solidus from Kunker's 304 auction makes an interesting comparison, especially the reverse that is stylistically similar to my coin. I found another interesting solidus from CNG 490, lot 336 for comparison, see photos below.

Again, there are strong similarities to the reverse dies, & both coins have an "I" officina letter (10th workshop). Oddly, CNG had auctioned this same coin on May 23, 2007, but at that time they attributed the coin to Theoderic 🤨, & at CNG 490 they labeled the coin as an official issue from the Constantinople mint. One thing is for sure, we still have a lot to learn about the coinage from the 5th-6th centuries 😏.

[Finn235]

One of the more puzzling barbarous radiates in my collection

The reverse is obviously a barbarous Hilaritas type with a badly garbled legend but the obverse could easily pass for official.

IMO, one of two things are likely behind this coin:

1. It was made in a makeshift mint probably after the fall of the Gallic Empire, with an ex-mint employee making the obverse dies and much less skilled workers making the reverses, or

2. It was made with an official obverse die, looted from the mint and then used in an illicit minting operation

[Rand]

51 minutes ago, Al Kowsky said:

Again, there are strong similarities to the reverse dies, & both coins have an "I" officina letter (10th workshop).

Indeed, the attribution is uncertain, and the next find can change it.

I do not follow Odovacer’s ‘Zeno’ coins very closely. However, the candidates for key Italian mints are plentiful, and the evolution of their productions starts taking shape: Rome coins are neat, and those from other mints are of increasingly crude style. Your coin is outside the common ‘crudeness’ of later Odovacer’s coins and of rather nice style. The shape of the hand holding the spear and the style of the ‘wave and dots’ pattern on the vertical and horizontal bands do have a likeness to the later ‘Burgundian’ coins.

This is a link to the ANS coin with the same ‘Officina I’ as yours. http://numismatics.org/collection/1944.100.84986?lang=en

 

The havoc of the Theoderic Italian wars disrupted minting in Milan (which was destroyed) and Ravenna (experienced a lengthy siege) and influenced others outside. Piecing them together is hard, and every unusual coin counts. I recently bought a Zeno Constantinople coin linked die-link to Anastasius (in a museum collection) - I only wish the same for Western types.

NB. Burgundian’ coins are at a premium to most Italian coins of Anastasius and maybe even more so for Zeno!

The other coin is also interesting. Again, I do not know them well, but I can match them to the Anastasian series of both Imperial and Italian styles.

[Al Kowsky]

37 minutes ago, Rand said:

Indeed, the attribution is uncertain, and the next find can change it.

I do not follow Odovacer’s ‘Zeno’ coins very closely. However, the candidates for key Italian mints are plentiful, and the evolution of their productions starts taking shape: Rome coins are neat, and those from other mints are of increasingly crude style. Your coin is outside the common ‘crudeness’ of later Odovacer’s coins and of rather nice style. The shape of the hand holding the spear and the style of the ‘wave and dots’ pattern on the vertical and horizontal bands do have a likeness to the later ‘Burgundian’ coins.

This is a link to the ANS coin with the same ‘Officina I’ as yours. http://numismatics.org/collection/1944.100.84986?lang=en

 

The havoc of the Theoderic Italian wars disrupted minting in Milan (which was destroyed) and Ravenna (experienced a lengthy siege) and influenced others outside. Piecing them together is hard, and every unusual coin counts. I recently bought a Zeno Constantinople coin linked die-link to Anastasius (in a museum collection) - I only wish the same for Western types.

NB. Burgundian’ coins are at a premium to most Italian coins of Anastasius and maybe even more so for Zeno!

The other coin is also interesting. Again, I do not know them well, but I can match them to the Anastasian series of both Imperial and Italian styles.

Rand, Roma Auction XXIII, March 25, 2022, had a surprisingly large offering of solidi issued by Odovacar in very choice condition. These coins came from the Mare Nostrum Hoard of 1954. All these coins were supposedly published in a forthcoming study by I. Vecchi, R. Beale, & S. Parkin, however, I don't know if this study was ever released 🤔. Never the less, you might enjoy looking at those coins from Roma Auction XXIII, offered on the 2nd day of the auction.

[Rand]

Thank you, Al Kowsky. The Mare Nostrum Hoard is hugely important and, being at all probability completed around 493, has beautiful rare Anastasian coins and many very nice and rare Zeno (Odovacer/Visighoths, etc) coins. It is still being sold. I have bought a few of Anastasian coins - bidding gets heated for better coins, and I am sure I will be at a loss if I sell. 

At auction XXVIII, Roma stopped identifying coins from the hoard, but they can be identified by style across Roman, Migration periods and Byzantine coins. It has not been published, and I cannot see any insensitive for Roma to do so now.

My count shows 274 sold from 426 reported by Roma before the initial sale. So there are about 150 coins to go unless some are sold privately - I will cry if I cannot see them all. I am not even worried about the exact find spot (likely in water) as the content tells enough. I just want to see them all.

During the last Roma auction, I noticed heavy bidding from the US, so the buyers must be confident of the legitimate provenance. Shanna Schmidt  re-sells some of them (including at Vcoins).

Edited July 15, 2023 by Rand