Thanks Molinari and Dominic T
I must confess I
had no knowledge of ancient Ukrainians making gold imitations of
Roman coins, let alone how extensive they appear to be. It seems to stand to reason
that the Bosporan Kingdom, which is well known to have very important ties to
Rome, might have needed imitations of the
Roman coinage. I imagine as coins from the imperial mints failed to make it through to the Kingdom due to attacks from Goths and Alans from the 3rd cent AD onward, something recognizable as a reliable gold coin might be needed to keep some form of trade going.
Consider the example below from the site from the link Dominic T posted.