Dr.
Hamburger assigned four
types of minute coins in
his 1954 article, to the
mint at
Caesarea.
Head of Hercules/animal right,
Head of Hercules/animal left, Tyche/galley, and Imperial
bust /galley.
Kadman, "Coins of
Caesarea Maritima" (1957) was more cautious, and based on the lack of inscriptions said that this assignation was conjectural, only.
Hamburger assigned Tyche/palm tree motif to Tyre, and small coins with
Egyptian motifs, including the
Griffin, were assigned to
Alexandria. Lee Levin, "
Caesarea Under
Roman Rule" (1975) proposed that
Caesarea issued small coins for the whole region, but I did not see any direct numismatic evidence presented in support of this theory. The most interesting idea I have heard is that these coins were issued for the soldiers stationed in each locality based on the coins circulating in each region at the time. They were then transported and distributed along with the movements of the troops to areas such as
Caesarea and the surrounding fields. In addition to the small module coins studied in Dr.
Hamburger's article, minute coins are found in
Caesarea from many cities, including
Antioch,
Berytus,
Sebaste, and many others, that in no way look like
counterfeits or copies. Large module coins that are obviously official issues from cities across the
Roman world are also found in these outlying areas at
Caesarea. As Dr.
Hamburger concluded in
his article, this is a subject which could benefit from a concerted study. As I have many of these small coins that I am now trying to
catalog, I would be glad to hear of any other ideas that someone might have on this subject. Thanks, V-drome
(the coin below is 9mm. approx. 0.9 g)
gallery:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/index.php?cat=31085