Bronze Roman, Contemporary Fake?

[mrbigb625]

Hello,

I pulled this out of a group that I recently bought.
To me, this appears to have all kinds of wrong.

The portrait looks odd, and the legend looks like a blundered mess.

I would think that the patina and build up looks good. Leading me to believe that it is a contemporary counterfeit.

Any thoughts on this one?

2.3 g
Bronze
Diameter: 18mm

Thank you
Your help is always appreciated.

[Arminius]

Yes - a Constantine Siscia mint imitative type / barbarous Æ3.

I recently found a similar one with more complicate imitative legends:



(ø 17-17,5 mm / 3,00 g), bronze, axis irregular alignment ↑→ (ca. 90°),
Obv.: DVVDVVDCVDVCVVC[VVC ?] , laureate helmeted and cuirassed bust right, strange style.
Rev.: DVVDVVDVVDvCVVCVVCVVC / CΛΛD (in exergue) , two Victories standing, facing each other and holding a shield (with a swirl like “§“ ) on an altar, decorated with X with a small circle at center (imitating the official VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC PERP -type).
imitating RIC VII, Siscia mint no. 53 from 318-319 AD. ; 322 similar imitative issues on http://www.nummus-bible-database.com (cf. http://www.nummus-bible-database.com/monnaie-63399.htm - N° NBD : 60534 , 51505 ); cf. http://www.beastcoins.com/Topical/VLPP/Coins/Imitative/VLPP-Imitative.htm ; cf. http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/barb2 .

Imitative Folles or "barbarous" bronze coins from this series are plentiful and range from extremely crude to nearly official in appearance. RIC footnotes as "irregular" or "semi-barbarous". On p. 224, Appendix to Trier, RIC VII describes and lists a number of "irregular" coins for the purpose of "illustrating the wide range of varieties known".