Elagabalus Imitative ?

[FORVM AUCTIONS]

Here is a funky style Elagabal which appears to be made of solid silver.  First, legends do not seem to match.

Any opinions ?



Thanks !

[curtislclay]

Yes, ancient counterfeit.

Style and types do not match any of the known subsidiary mints of Elagabalus, and it is inadvisable to invent a new mint each time a plausible ancient counterfeit turns up!

[Goodies]

hi,

Interesting piece this is ! what's the weight ?

Ancient counterfeit

When this is really silver I tend to disagree. Counterfeits aren't full silver. Plated counterfeits occur. In the Severan age, e.g. Limes Falsa denarii existed that contained less than 25% silver. They were probably official soldiers money and in normal circulation. Consequently, coins that deviate like this made of silver must have been confined to certain isolated areas, which designates it as imitative, not counterfeit.

Severi imitatives are rare.

Below is a Septimius imitative that was found in the Netherlands.


Lx

[curtislclay]

My definition of  "ancient counterfeit" includes what you call "imitative".  The major distinction is between coins produced by the central government, and everything else. 

We cannot know for sure the motives behind the production of "imitative" coins with considerable silver: whether to make money for the producer or to provide coins of close to the official standard to circulate in areas where official coins were scarce.

[Goodies]

hi @Curtis Clay,

It interests me what culture a coin originates from. Being an inhabitant of former Roman-occupied territory ( I still blame them ) I always want to know if it is Roman or Germanic/Celt origin, e.g. wether the die-cutter was latinized. Maybe it's just all speculation, maybe Roman counterfeiters could not read either..  One thing we do know, is official coin houses had to hire latinized die cutters. The lettering is relevant in determing it's imitative of not.

Sometimes it cannot be determined at all: coins were also counterfeit via casting, maybe in the villages too: for these, the distinction cannot be made. Also, official dies used for plated coins are seen often as finds in the Netherlands: could be stolen, or indicate corrupt officials. We'll never know.

The lettering on above coin is maybe not correct according to RIC, but for "imitative" it is quite neat. Hybrids are often seen plated.

 
Lx