Numism > Help For the New Ancient Coin Collector

Roman influence on coinage

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ROMA:
Obviously due to the scope and size of the Roman empire it has influenced coins and monetary systems of much of the world to this day. I'm not very familier with post Rome coinage but this one caught my eye. In fact at first glance I thought i almost was looking at a Roman imperial coin. From the laureate cuirassed bust of the king, to the latin inscriptions, to the personification of Brittania on the reverse, this is a very Roman coin, just struck 1200 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Pretty cool. Was England the only country pre-18th century to strike coins so similar to Roman imperial coins?
CHARLES II, (1660-1685),

ROMA:
Thanks for the reply, I wasnt aware of the Brazilian coin. It seems that a lot of the coins of the medieval period have a similer feel to them. Once you get into the 18nth century and beyond the old Roman style seems to creep into coinage again. Interesting that it was abandoned for so long.

Robert_Brenchley:
It seems to come back with the advent of milled coinage, at least in the UK.

mestreaudi:
Your welcome ROMA! :)

By the way, what seems to be a "milled coinage"?
I couldn´t find any definitions for this!

Sap:
"Milled coinage" - struck by machine, such as a water mill or screw press, rather than hammered by hand.

There are plenty of coins worldwide where the Roman model is emulated. Certainly the concept of the side-view portrait of the reigning monarch in regal pose (often wearing a laurel wreath), surrounded by the monarch's titles, is widespread throughout the coinage of Europe.

The gold "augustale" or "augustalis" shows clear evidence of Roman inspiration even in mediaeval times; apart from the lettering, these coins "look Roman". Obviously Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, on seeing some ancient Roman coins, told his mint workers in Sicily to go and do likewise.

Here's an example in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna:
http://www.khm.at/system2E.html?/staticE/page631.html

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